Turning of the Tides
by Ceri Blackheart
Summary: ... “Oy, Mudblood. Have you ever had an orgasm?” - And that's what started it all.
1. Are You Happy Now?

**Turning of the Tides**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything here except the plot.**

**Full summary:** Starting out with an intense squabble, involving swear-words and cussing. One night, Draco discovers Salazar Slytherin's ancient journal. One problem though – it's written purely in Ancient Runes! Worst of all is that he can't read it. So who better to ask to translate for him but the famous Hermione Granger? Together, they find out the deepest, darkest secrets, love life, frustrations and even the most humiliating moments of none other but _the _Salazar Slytherin.

Another thing, what happens if an unexpected friendship blooms between Draco and Hermione? Will they deny it?

**A/N: Posted under new Pen Name and account, Ceri Blackheart – previously known as Scandale de Minuit.**

**Chapter one: Are you happy now?**

It was ten minutes after lunch break when Hermione walked down the span of the hall. The students all caught up in their own conversations; fail to notice that she seemed to be preoccupied with something.

"Oy, Mudblood. Have you ever had an orgasm?" A familiar dreaded voice behind her sniggered. It was Malfoy, and behind him were his sleazy supporters. The Great Hall fell silent, their personal conversations halted by the underhanded remark by Malfoy.

"…" She said nothing. She merely walked faster keeping her books close to her chest.

"Oooh!? Poor little Granger at the age of 16, hasn't had the experience yet?! My, Merlin, Potter and even Weasley have had a go at it once or twice! Yet here you are no experience what-so-ever. I almost feel bad for you, Granger… Not enjoying life as we know it… " Draco Malfoy laughed loudly as he followed her. Everyone in the Great Hall followed them with baited breath.

She stopped walking, her fists clenched and shaking from anger due to Malfoy's pitiful excuse to embarrass her in front of the student body of Hogwarts. "Oh dear, dear Her-my-own-knee… Poor, poor, Hermione." Malfoy edged on, walking a few more steps forward. "So I am right. You really have no experience what-so-ever in this. I guess there are some things you can't learn from the books, huh, Mudblood"

"I guess all those hours in the library did nothing for your social life, huh?" Malfoy continued the harassment. Hermoine was almost in tears as her anger peaked. The Great Hall was still silent, as the muffled giggle and laughs of Malfoy's group echoed, everyone in the great hall stood silent with gasps coming out from random Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs as they heard the conversation.

"Sure, you dated Krum and Weasley for a few weeks, but I bet you never really did anything more than hold your little baby hands!"

"Oh, what's wrong? Did I hit a little immature nerve, Mudblood?" Malfoy said as he further agitated Hermione's temper.

That was the last straw for Hermione. "Leave Krum and Ron out of this..." she moaned under her breath.

"Of all my years in Hogwarts, you have done nothing but insult me, treat me like trash and humiliate me. You have tested my patience and you sucked my pride dry. Let me ask you, Draco..."

She quickly turns around, drops her books and puts her clenched fists to her sides.

"What the hell is wrong with you? SURE, YOU INSULT ME ABOUT MY SCHOOL AND MY HAIR AND MY BOOKS BUT YOU CAN'T HAVE JUST LEFT IT THERE, COULD YOU? YOU JUST HAD TO POKE YOUR SMELLY BIG FAT NOSE INTO MY SOCIAL LIFE!"

Hermione's face showed a red glow, and her unclenched hands were being waved around for emphasis.

"YOU COULDNT JUST LEAVE ME ALONE, COULD YOU?"

She stopped screaming and put down her hands.

Everyone looked onto Malfoy, feeling his face with their eyes. They were practically drilling him for his reply to Hermione's sudden outburst of anger.

"Don't you shout at my Malfoy!" A screechy voice emanates from behind. It was Pansy Parkinson, _"Slut Queen of Hogwarts"._ The students all moved their attention to her because of the sudden uncalled-for remark or Pansy. "Just because my Draco has a great social life, and you don't, doesn't give you the right to-"

Pansy's sentence was cut short by Hermione's sudden step towards Malfoy and his gang.

"Listen here, Pansy, you tell_ your_ Malfoy to stay out of my business..."

"Or else what?" Pansy retorts.

In an instant, Hermione swiftly moves forward a couple more steps. Directly in front of Pansy, Hermione lets out a whisper. "Or else I'll make your face hurt like it's never been before..."

An evil gleam in her eyes made Pansy rethink her reply to Hermione's threat.

Pansy, not wanting to seem weak, attempted to push back Hermione but Blaise stopped her. "Don't push it, Pansy..." He whispered into her ear. "We don't know what she'll do right now..."

"Don't you dare lay a finger on her, you filthy Mudblood!" Malfoy finally lets out. "If you do, I will make sure you and your family will never find a good night's sleep!"

She finally snaps at Malfoy's threat to her family. She draws her wand out and sticks it in his face. "Fuck off Malfoy..."

"And don't you dare threaten my parents." She adds in an equivalent deadly voice.

Blaise intervenes as he goes in-between the wand and Malfoy's nose. "Okay that's enough... We don't need to see that here."

"Bugger off, Blaise." Malfoy snarled then pushes Blaise aside and reaches for Hermione's arm, grabs it and pushes her to face him.

"Listen—" Malfoy's retort was cut short when a slap was heard echoing through the Great Hall.

Pansy's hand meets with Hermione's cheek as Malfoy's face shows surprise never before seen on a Draco. "WHAT WAS THAT, MUDBLOOD? YOU WERE GOING TO MAKE ME HURT??"

Pansy screams as she was seized from behind and was restrained by Blaise. Hermione looks up at Malfoy, eyes wide open, suddenly realizes what just happened. Tears slowly drip from her eyes as she brought her hand up to her sore cheek.

"Are you happy now, Malfoy? Are you finally happy?" She managed to let out.

Without another word, she ran away from the scene, leaving books behind.

Malfoy stared at the trail she left when she ran away. For a moment, her loud footsteps echoed through his mind as her last words lingered in his ears like a broken record.

Malfoy lets out a hiss and says "Let's go. Show's over."

As Malfoy and the group return to the Slytherin common room, Blaise was left behind, picking up the books on the floor, mumbling to himself.

"They've gone too far, those blokes."

Meanwhile, Hermione ran into the room of requirement. She locked herself in with several charms and spells, to make sure no one could barge in on her.

"_It's too much... just too much..."_

She brought her trembling hand up to her sore cheek and caressed it lightly, wincing with pain every time she gave it a stroke.

"_What did I do to deserve such a life?"_

She sobbed harder and let out a loud hiccup.

"_It's gone too far and I can't take this anymore..."_

Once again she let out a hiccup, much softer than the first.

A few hours passed, yet it seemed like forever. She finally got over herself and just wanted to run into Harry's arms to find comfort. She drew out her wand, and waved it as she said,

"_Reflectorus."_

A floating mirror appeared before her which displayed what the past events have done. Her eyes were puffy and red, her hair was shaggier than ever, her nose resembled Rudolf's and her left cheek was red and sore.

"That's going to be a bruise soon..." She cursed.

Admitting to herself that she looked ghastly, she hid her eyes in her bangs, and made an attempt to run to the Gryffindor's common room as fast as she could.

She failed.

For a few meters from the fat lady portrait, she bumped into Blaise Zabini who was currently holding a familiar stack of books.

Blaise managed to not let the books fall despite the sudden bump from someone.

Presently on the ground was a scowling Hermione Granger. Or Blaise thought she was?

He chuckled, then his eyes widened. "Hermione? Goodness! Is that you?" Blaise set out a free hand for her to take, but Hermione, being as stubborn as she is, refused his hand and got up on her own.

"Are those books mine? And yes, this pitiful sight you're looking at is indeed the_ Mudblood _Hermione Granger." Hermione glared at him and spat vehemently at the vile word, _Mudblood._

"I was just going to return these… You dropped them, see… and I wanted to give it back to you before someone else gets a hold on it." Blaise stammered as he stared at Hermione. She looked as if someone had just died. No, she looked like as _she_ had died.

"Look, I don't know what you're planning or whatever, just give me my books and leave me alone." She spat back, looking as if she was staring at the most disgusting thing on earth.

"Hold on there, little missy. I give these books back to you and you say nothing? After I marched my arse all the way to the here just to give these?" He said snorting in a very Malfoy way.

"Just give it." She hissed through her teeth.

Blaise immediately complied and gave the stack of books back to her.

"Look, Granger, I'm sorry about what Malfoy and the others did to you. We didn't mean it to go that far... Well, I didn't mean it." Blaise apologized, looking as sincere as possible.

"Yeah, Sure. Whatever, Zabini." This time, she had cut from Blaise to a mere Zabini as she snatched her books from his arms and swiftly turned to proceed to the Gryffindor common room. The way she addressed him hurt Blaise as he watched Hermione disappear behind the Fat Lady's portrait. He then turns around and proceeds to his own common room.

"Oh dear, what happened?" A portrait inside of the room was shocked due to Hermione's current appearance, and immediately tried to ask her for an explanation.

She merely said nothing but let out a loud hiccup, and held back the tears, confusing the portrait. Instead of asking her the password, she swung the door open and let Hermione in.

Luckily, no one in sight was there. Everyone was busy with their own stuff.

By the moment she had seen Harry sitting on the chair in front of the fire, she couldn't hold back any longer.

Harry noticed Hermione's unusually stiff figure and stood up. "Hermione?" He ran towards her, and asked immediately who had made her cry, but she didn't reply.

She hugged his torso and buried her face in his chest, letting Harry wrap his arms around her arms.

"Hermione, what happened?" Harry asked soothingly as he ran his fingers through her hair.

"Malfoy."

He stroked her hair, his eyes flaming at the thought of Malfoy hurting her and said, "Do you want me to tell him off? Or I could hex him if you wanted me to. Tell me."

She merely shook her head.

Harry brought two fingers under her chin to make Hermione face him. To his surprise, he saw a red mark on her cheek. It seemed as if she was slapped.

"Did he slap you too, Hermione?" Harry said in a tone that even Draco wouldn't want to mess with.

"Pansy…" She whispered softly, and looked down.

Harry kissed the top of her head, and slightly loosened his grip on Hermione.

"I'm going to make them regret what they did." She said angrily despite her tears.

"What?" Harry was confused at the sudden remark.

"I'm going to show them the real Hermione Granger who never lets them get to me. I'll show them an even more improved version of that." Her voice trailed away.

Harry sighed brought her to the chair near the fireplace and let her sit there. "I'm going to get you something to drink and some ice for that…" Harry said quietly as he put her down in a chair.

"Thanks." She tried to smile, but couldn't.

She let her eyes wander and they rested at Harry's figure. Chuckling, at how she remembered when Harry was 11, small and scrawny. He used to be completely defenceless. In the end, he became the saviour of the Wizarding world, ironic, huh?

"Here, 'Mione." He handed her a cup of pumpkin juice.

"T-thanks 'arry." She stared at the juice and droplets of tears fell onto the cup.

"Come here…" Harry took the cup from her and placed it down on the table, then opened his arms gesturing for her to come to him.

"That's it, just let it out." Harry rubbed her back in circles, and squeezed her hand tightly.

_**After Draco and his friends went back to the Slytherin common room, and at night, things get steamy…**_

Draco was sitting on his usual Slytherin throne when suddenly Blaise comes back out of nowhere and slams the door shut behind him, causing quite a shake in the common room.

"OY! WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM? ARE YOU TRYING TO BREAK **MY **COMMON ROOM?" Draco snarled at Blaise.

"You've gone too far, mate. Too far." Blaise glared at Draco, causing everyone in the room to stare at the two.

"Oh? What do you care? She's a Mudblood. Don't tell me you've got the eye for that ugly thing? Surely you wouldn't stoop that low." Draco smirked and raised an eyebrow at the glaring Slytherin.

"Bloody hell, Malfoy! She's a _PERSON_. Mudblood or not, I don't care in any way for her. But you've gone too far! SHE'S GOD DAMN MISERABLE AS WE SPEAK AND HERE WE ARE CONTINUING TO TORTURE HER?!" Blaise spat.

Pansy stopped reading her magazine, and suddenly walked up to Blaise.

"DO NOT TALK TO HIM LIKE THAT, ZABINI. KNOW WHERE YOU BELONG. AND THAT IS UNDER DRACO MALFOY." She screeched at him, her glaring eyes filled with fury. No one should speak like that to Draco, even if it _is_ Blaise Zabini.

"Shut the bloody hell up, Parkinson. I wasn't talking to you." Blaise pushed her aside with one hand, causing the black haired girl to get even more agitated.

"Don't touch her, Blaise. Or I'll personally make sure that you don't get good shag for the rest of your life." Draco said in a cold tone.

"You know what, Draco? I _**don't**_ care anymore. I'm done being your lapdog." Blaise growled.

"THAT'S IT! I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO SPEAK LIKE THAT TOWARDS DRACO ANY LONGER" Pansy then grabs Blaise by the collar and pulls him down to the floor. She then springs on top of him and attempts to claw his eyes out.

Blaise's hand rapidly meets with Pansy's left cheek as his form of self defense.

She screeches from the pain and is forced to get off him so that she could run to Draco.

"DRACO! MY FACE!!! MY BEAUTIFUL FACE!!! LOOK AT WHAT THAT BASTARD DID TO MY FACE!!!" She screamed with tears brimming her eyes and clutched onto Draco's robe.

Draco grabs his wand from inside his robe and pointed it straight at Blaise.

"I TOLD YOU TO NOT TOUCH HER, YOU BLOODY BASTARD." Draco roared.

"I WILL DO WHAT I BLOODY WANT. DON'T YOU TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" Blaise flared back.

Blaise took out his wand from his pocket, and pointed it equivalently at Malfoy.

"Are you threatening me?" Draco smirked evilly.

"As far as I'm concerned, you started pointing your wand at me. This is a mere form of self defence. But if you wish to hex me, then I would gladly hex you back." Blaise's once icy blue eyes seemed to turn into a ghastly shade of midnight blue. His temper was reaching its peak and was ready to hex Malfoy at any time.

"Don't you forget, Zabini, I _am_ the son of a death eater. I learn more dark magic than you could ever do."

"Have you forgotten, Malfoy? My family is tied to the Dark Lord – dead or not. And unlike you, I can stand up on my own even when using dark magic. I don't run to my father and ask him to scare away the people in my way." Blaise sneered.

"I can hex you now Blaise, so learn to keep your tongue inside your mouth or I'll make that longer than it already is."

"Then go on, I'm not afraid. Hex me with this _dark magic_ you're so proud of! Go on, so you can get expelled! Let's see who causes such a disgrace to the pure blood of a Malfoy you so proudly have!"

Pansy's hand left Malfoy's robe and crept onto his hands, slowly bringing his armed hand down.

"He's not worth it, Drakey." She smirked and tried to convince him.

"Really now, _Drakey_? Are you scared? Too scared that whenever someone mentions your disgrace the Malfoy blood, you disarm yourself? What a stunning sight!" Blaise chortled, finally putting his wand down and back to his pocket...

"You know what, Zabini? Why don't you just keep your mouth shut like a good boy if you _do_ know what's best for you?" Draco's temper rose once again and socked the unaware Blaise square on his nose.

"What in the world?!" Blaise's eyes shot wide open and quickly got on his two feet. Noticing the blood trickling slowly down his nose, he wiped it and stared at the smeared blood on the back of his right hand.

It was this time for Draco to laugh heartily.

"You should have seen the look on yourself, mate!" Draco snorted and everyone else in the room except for Blaise started laughing.

"I guess I'm the one to get the last laugh, eh?" Draco cocked at eyebrow and smirked at his ex-lapdog.

"Wrong, Malfoy." Blaise punched his _ex_-best friend _hard_ on his left cheek, causing the snorting blonde to get pulled back by the sudden impact of Blaise's fist.

"DRACO!!" A wide eyed Pansy quickly helped him get up, with a nervous look on her face.

"_Wrong_. Last laugh belongs to me." Blaise muttered darkly and without another huff, he turned his heel around and marched to the infirmary.


	2. Ancient Runes

**Turning of the Tides**

Disclaimer: I own the story, and none of the Harry Potter characters. I'm broke so please don't sue. D: Anyway R&R. Oh and some of those spells and characters are mine. But I can't say all of them.

**A/N: **Please review this. I know people actually liked this story (when I first posted it) as it reached over 200 reviews in a matter of a few months. :)

**Chapter two: Ancient Runes**

_I felt him grab my arm, and pushed me to face him. _

"_Listen-" His cold voice talking to me but was cut short by a hand meeting with my cheek._

_A millisecond later, the painful cry of a slap echoed throughout the Great Hall._

_I felt eyes staring me down, sucking every bit of confidence in me. I was mortified._

"_WHAT WAS THAT, MUDBLOOD? YOU WERE GOING TO MAKE ME HURT??" I heard a screech belonging to Pansy Parkinson._

_Another millisecond had passed and everything else felt numb except for the searing pain coming from my left cheek._

_I didn't know what was happening, my vision became blurry, but I heard Pansy screeching once again. I guess she was being seized from behind by someone._

_Suddenly, my hand crept up to my face, touching the hot, sore cheek._

_The tears I had held back throughout what happened before this had instantly poured out from my eyes, showing complete and total defeat._

_I looked at Draco; he was the only thing in my sight that wasn't blurry._

"_Are you happy now, Draco? Are you finally happy?" I managed to let out, despite the painful feeling in my throat._

"Hermione?" Harry waved at Hermione as she was staring into space.

"Oh, sorry, what?" She blinked at him.

"You needed something?" Harry smiled.

"Where are we, again?" She asked dumbly as she looked around trying to remember what they were doing and _where_ they were.

Then finally realizing that they were in her room.

"Your room, and remember? You needed help on something. It was either that, or you needed something."

Hermione finally snapping out, she turned to Harry and said, "Oh yes! Harry, I'm goin' to need your help on something."

She smiled, and then started rummaging through her trunk.

"On what?" Harry tilted his head to the right as he stared at the brunette.

"On this!" Hermione grinned at Harry as she brought out all her school skirts in her hands.

"Don't tell me you want me to wear…that." He took a step back and his eyes widened as he looked at the skirts.

"No, silly. We're going to cut these." Hermione giggled at her nervous friend.

"But aren't you going to wear those? For school?" Harry asked in confusion.

"Precisely! From now on, I'm going to wear short skirts. Just like everyone else." A small smile graced her thin lips.

"Mione, Are you okay? Is that you??" Harry stood up and grabbed Hermione by her shoulders and shook her widely.

"Harry, come now." She laughed and brushed his hands off her shoulders.

"I know my hexes—whoever you are, you better reveal yourself. If that's polyjuice potion you're taking, I know bloody well that it wears off." Harry's eyes shot wide, and took three steps away from his best friend's body.

"Then let's wait for an hour. Until this 'potion' wears off. If that is, you don't believe me. Anyway, let's go down for dinner and finish this later." Hermione's smile faded, grimacing at Harry.

Harry sighed.

Hermione tied her hair up with a hair-tie letting some curls fall onto her face. She noticed Harry staring at her face, and then she chuckled.

"Is there something on my face?" She asked innocently.

"Hmm, perhaps?" He grinned at his friend.

"Do you believe me, Harry?" She asked seriously as she stared into his eyes.

"Of course! After seeing that innocent look? Hah! Even Pansy can't do that." He snorted boyishly.

"Well, c'mon then, I'm starving! All that crying gave me an appetite." She said, dropping her serious look and laughed along.

She then grabbed his hand and dragged him all the way to the entrance hall.

The moment they were in front of the entrance hall, Hermione hesitated. Harry stared at her for a while then squeezed her hand and gave her a reassuring smile. "It's gonna be okay."

With another sigh, she entered the hall and all eyes were laid on her.

She slipped in beside Ron quietly, and Harry sat down beside her.

They noticed that her fight with the Slytherins had spread quickly, and soon enough, everyone was talking about it.

"_Yeah, I heard Pansy slapped her and she cried like a baby."_

"_Really? I heard that she has a secret crush on Malfoy."_

"_Really? I heard that she totally screamed at Pansy and ran away because she got so scared."_

"_Well, she should be. Considering that Pansy is so much prettier that shaggy haired Granger."_

"_Just look at her face! She looks like she was badly beaten up. Or maybe that's just her."_

Hermione suddenly shifted uncomfortably in her seat, and pretended that she never heard those rude comments from her fellow Gryffindors.

Her two friends suddenly looked at her then exchanged approving looks and nodded. Both stood abruptly from their seats, then glared at the gossiping Gryffindor girls.

She didn't notice the two until she heard the screeching sound of their chairs being pushed aback.

"_Goodness, Harry Potter is looking at us!"_

"_He's checking me out!"_

"_How do I look? Oh look! He's getting closer!"_

And with another stride, Harry was behind the gossiping girls.

"Look, ladies. I don't know what is with you girls but I suggest you keep your bloody comments to yourselves. For you to gossip about your fellow Gryffindor is very Slytherin like, and certainly not how a Gryffindor would act. Moreover, are you not aware that she is just a few chairs away from you?" Harry asked them coldly.

"What ever do you mean, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley?" One of the girls said.

"You heard him. Our _friend_, Hermione Granger is just right there. And now, as a _friend_, WE are standing up for her. Now I ask of you to shut your bloody gossiping mouths before you even lose those." Ron spat.

"Oh? Gossiping? We were not gossiping? Were we, girls?" Another girl scoffed.

"I don't care whether you are women or not. I don't want you talking like that about my friend." Harry gritted his teeth.

"Yeah! And if you don't shut your bloody mouths, we _will_ make sure you do." Ron pointed his wand against one of the girls' waist.

"Now, now, no pointing. It's rude to point. Besides, we are _ladies_ and you are both _gentlemen. Gentlemen _never do that. Especially the great Harry Potter." Another girl said cheerily.

"Why that bloody witch!" Ron angered and started going for one of the girls until Harry seized him and told him to control his anger.

They were gaining attention, and Harry wanted to end this quick

"You wanna try, witch?" Harry said in low voice and glared at the girl, this time, all three girls got the message that both Harry and Ron were not joking at all.

The three stammered and said nothing.

"I guess not. Come along Ron." Harry pulled his other best friend back to their seats.

More whispering from the other tables were heard.

"Thanks Harry… thanks Ron." Hermione said sarcastically, biting her tongue. _Great, now I've made an even bigger fool out of myself. I didn't need them to do that. But still, they were just standing up for me…_

She scanned the hall and her eyes lay on the Slytherin table. She looked for Blaise but he was nowhere in sight.

"Where is he?" Hermione mumbled.

"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that. What were you saying, Er-'mione?" Ron asked her, his mouth stuffed with food.

"Nothing, nothing. Food's… great." She forced a smile.

Ron said nothing but merely smiled at her, his cheeks as large as can be.

She looked at the Slytherin's table once again, and found Pansy snickering to one of her friends. Surprisingly, Pansy's cheek seemed to be a bit swollen and red.

Hermione chuckled, gaining the attention of a worried Harry this time.

"Hermione? You're not touching your food."

"Oh, um." She forced a spoon filled with mashed potatoes inside her mouth, and suddenly felt like vomiting, but she had to swallow it all. "Food's great!" She continued after swallowing the large amount of potatoes.

Her eyes went back to the Slytherin's table. A smug Draco Malfoy with a rather large and not to mention bruising left cheek.

"_Could it be swollen? Did someone hit him? That's great!" _She grinned and shifted her gaze from Draco to Harry.

She shuffled her gaze from the Ravenclaw table, to the Hufflepuffs, and back to the Slytherin. This time, someone was staring back at her. The familiar blonde seemed to be smirking at her.

"_Could things get any worse?" _She screamed inside her head, slightly hyperventilating and immediately looked down.

Suddenly, the voice of Draco Malfoy replied in her head saying, _"Oh yes it will."_

Fear immediately was seen in her eyes when she looked at Draco once again and found him still staring at her, laughing.

"_What the heck? Am I dreaming this? Is that prat a mind reader? If he is, then he would know everything that I'm thinking about. I'm just imagining this, right?" _She thought to herself then stammered.

"_Actually, I am not a mind reader, you daft little girl. I am a 'sententia rumpo' in other words; I am a person who can easily barge into someone's thoughts. Oh, and don't even bother learning occlumency. For I can break through anything. Yes, well, I am very gifted, Granger, which is why the Dark Lord wants me." _She stared at him, he then blew her a kiss.

Disgusted, she made a face then looked away and thought.

"_You disgusting git! Leave my thoughts alone. I can't eat if you keep listening to my thoughts and stare at me as if I was your prey." _Hermione snarled inside her head as she poked her potatoes with a fork.

"Hermione, if you don't want your potatoes, just say so. You can give it to me. So you can fill your plate again with whatever you want." Ron grinned at Hermione.

"Here, Ron. I'm not hungry anymore. You can have it." Hermione stared the plate then pushed it towards Ron.

"_Not hungry? Did I ruin your scanty little appetite?" _Draco sniggered inside her head.

"_Shut up and leave me alone."_

Finally losing her temper, she glared at Draco once more then stood up and left the Great Hall, causing the students to snicker and make up more rumors about the brunette.

"_Hermione? Why'd you go?" _Draco's voice suddenly rang in her head.

"_Don't you dare call me by my first name or I'll make sure your knackers see no day light ever again. Besides, why do you care where I go?" _She grunted as she walked into a pace, wanting to reach her quarters, the sooner, the better.

"_What's wrong, Mudblood? What got your knickers into a bunch?" _Draco snorted and laughed hysterically in her mind.

"_Sod off, Malfoy. And while you're at it, make sure that you stick your finger away from my mind. Coz honestly, it has been bugging me. A LOT."_

"…" no reply.

"_Malfoy? Are you gone?" _She danced inside her brain and trotted on her way to her room.

"FINALLY!" Hermione said aloud and grinned to herself, making sure no one saw her talking to herself.

"_Now to the library!" _She grinned as she thought of the epitome of peace and quiet.

"DRAKEY! Hello?!" Pansy's shrieking voice emanated from beside him, causing him to lose connection with Hermione's mind.

"WHAT?!" Draco twitched in anger as he lost contact with Hermione Granger.

"Why aren't you paying attention to me?" She replied with a pout, desperately trying to look cute.

"_Please, as if you could look cute, you slag." _Malfoy said to himself darkly.

"Drakey?" Pansy reached out the table to touch his hand, but within the blink of an eye, Malfoy moved his hand from the table and clasped it with his other hand and rested it on his lap.

"I'm not hungry anymore, please excuse me." Malfoy stood up immediately not eyeing Pansy and causing the chair he was previously sitting on to let a loud screech as it was forcefully moved behind. This caught the attention of the whole Slytherin table, as well as some from the other houses.

He let his feet lead on, and took a quicker pace when he heard Pansy's voice calling out for him.

"Draco? Wait for me! Is there something wrong?" She stood up from her chair and followed him, calling out his name to try and get his attention.

Meanwhile in the Gryffindor's table,

"Ron, I think there's something wrong with Hermione." Harry whispered to Ron.

"Yeh, she was acting a bit uncanny today." Harry raised an eyebrow as Ron had used a big word such as uncanny in his sentence.

"Erm, yeah. I'm gonna check up on her. And you… You just continue eating." Harry now raised both eyebrows as he red-head constantly filling his plate with roasted chicken, lamb chops, mashed potatoes, and a lot more.

Chuckling silently as his friend ate his heart out, a few moments passed and he soon followed after Hermione, figuring out where she could be.

Draco looked both ways and behind him to check if Pansy was catching up to him. To his relief, she didn't. But her distant voice calling after him was clearly heard.

He had to find some place to hide in, and fast.

He cast a quick tempus to check the time, and surprisingly, it was half past seven in the evening.

_I thought it was quarter to nine. I guess I didn't really take that long when I was talking to Granger._

"DRAAAAAAAAAKKKKEEEEEEEEEYYYYYY!!!!!!!!" A ghastly voice emanating from behind was slowly catching up to him.

_That girl just never takes a blasted break._

_Why can't she just bloody leave me alone in peace?_

_Well, probably coz she'd need a good shag every once in a while, but honestly! That girl has the mouth of an insane horse, neighing every minute, every second in my life. But her neighing sounds more like a "DRAAAAKEEEEEYYYY!"_

Sighing irritably, he took a turn on the next corner, and found himself going towards the library.

_Thank goodness, now for some peace and quiet._

Harry on the other hand was running. He desperately wanted to find out what was going on with Hermione. One minute she'd be giggling and laughing like a happy baboon, next thing you know it, she'd get mad and just stomp away like that!

_Honestly, I never know what goes on in her head._

Harry suddenly slowed down his pace when he found Pansy a few meters ahead of her.

"Pansy?" Harry called out, hoping that wasn't he thought she would be.

The raven haired girl turned around and said, "Potter?"

_Merlin, spare me. Evil has a new face… Pansy Skanky Parkinson._

"What are you doing here? Did you follow me all the way here?" Pansy asked, while slowly moving towards Harry.

"_Tart, as if I'd ever follow you all the way here._" Harry thought darkly as he glared at all too smug Pansy.

"No, I was following after my friend, Hermione whom you slapped this afternoon in public." Harry scowled, running his fingers through his hair.

"Oh yes! That stupid mudblood needed a reminder where _she_ belonged. It's not my fault that she retaliated so violently. Screaming like a spoiled brat and waving her silly little hands in the air. It caused quite a scene…" Pansy's voice trailed off then started laughing like a maniac. She stopped walking since she was now a meter away from the boy.

"Ha ha! You should have seen the look in her face after I hit her and started crying. She looked like her face was screaming for bloody murder." Pansy continued laughing, angering the brunette in front of her.

Harry suddenly forgot why he had come here in the first place. Pansy Parkinson's cackles echoed through his mind as she continued on and on about Hermione's breakdown.

"_Or else I'll make your face hurt like it's never been hurt before..._" She continued, waving her hands in the air in emphasis as she tried her best to imitate Hermione's voice.

"Oh and how she tried so desperately to scare me with her weak retorts! It was utterly embarrassing well, for her of course. Completely priceless, I say. And how that filthy _mudblood_ raised her wand at my Drakey and she-" But was cut by Harry's temper rising.

"ENOUGH. DON'T YOU DARE CALL HER A MUDBLOOD." He glowered at Pansy, his face in disgust.

"I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS. I TELL YOU, PARKINSON, IF YOU EVER LAY A FINGER ON HERMIONE, OR EVEN TAUNT HER IN ANY WAY, YOU CAN KISS YOUR DRAKEY GOODBYE BECAUSE YOU'LL HAVE ANOTHER THING COMING." Harry has made sure that his voice was loud and clear.

Not wanting to seem weak, she turned on her Slytherin instincts and taunted, "What's the best you can do, Potty? Turn me into a gerbil? A rabbit perhaps? I don't mind being a rabbit, as long as you turn my Drakey into one as well. We can have even hotter sex that way. I don't mind since I've always wanted to find out how rabbits get it on." She finished off the last sentence flirtingly with that famous Slytherin smirk.

"I might even have the guts to kill you." Harry said darkly, pulling his wand from his pocket and pointed it directly squared at her chest.

"Really now, Potter? Surely, you won't do that, now would you? You're far too Gryffindor for that." Pansy nervously laughed, but still regained her ego.

"Let me refresh your mind… That _I_ was the one who got rid of your Lord _Voldemort._" Pansy winced at the name and Harry continued, "And now, you're thinking that killing you on the way would be hard for me? Please, if you even had a brain, you would know that that my amiability is only an 'image' which everybody points out. Although if it bloody takes that breaking my own 'image' is what I need to do get rid of you and most especially Malfoy, I would never hesitate to do it. So if I were you, you'd listen to me and leave me, Hermione, and our friends alone." Harry said sternly, still not letting go of his wand's current position.

Pansy suddenly took one step behind, took her wand out and pointed it directly at Harry's face then said, "Don't you dare threaten me Potter, I know as much dark magic as well. Do not underestimate my name."

"Then try me. Let's see if your spells get past me before I could kill you." He smirked, tightening his grip on his wand. Deep inside, he knew he shouldn't be threatening anyone like this, but it was as if something snapped within him.

"Really, Potter? Last time I remembered, you couldn't even cast a simple _Cruciatus curse _on a disgusting spider." Pansy raised an eyebrow, a mischievous smile slowly forming on her lips.

"Correction, Pansy, I can't cast a _Cruciatus curse_ on any _innocent_ thing. Be it a spider or a troll. But you, Pansy Parkinson, are anything but innocent." He spat.

"Really now, Potter? I do admit that I am quite puzzled that you ended up in Gryffindor and not in Slytherin. But of course, due to your persistence the sorting hat ended up putting you in Gryffindor instead. Shame, I might have had fun with you if you were in Slytherin…" Pansy teased, still not putting down her wand.

"Just… Watch it, Parkinson." Harry Potter sighed and walked away, fearing that he might have said something worse if he had stayed any longer.

Draco on the other hand found himself walking into the restricted section of the library.

_I think it's about time I learned the secrets of immortality._

Draco smirked as he went to reach a book.

_Bloody cow, it's dark. I can't see a thing._

_OH YES, MY W__AND!! Damn my stupidity. At least no one was here to witness it._

"Lumos." He whispered, pointing his wand at the stack of books.

_Now where is section I… Oh, hahah, I've been standing on it the whole time!_

_Okay now… Im… im…_

_Immortal hearts… Immortal newts… Imported wands… Immortality!_

He put his wand on the floor, still lit, and took the book from the shelf carefully.

He sat down on the floor and took his lit wand and hovered it onto the cover of the book, gaining more visibility.

The cover was in leather and in a deep shade of green, and the writings were in silver.

He frowned as he saw the title engraved in bold font on the leather, "Diary".

_What the, I completely got the wrong book! Goodness, I'm getting dafter by the minute._

He took fascination on the colors and the texture so he scanned the cover of the book where his eyes laid on the lower right portion of the book was engraved, "Salazar Slytherin".

"MERLIN!" He gasped, but quickly covered his mouth. His eyes shot wide as stared at the name.

_A book written by Salazar himself… This is even better than a book of immortality! But then I thought these books were banned and burnt during the time of hi__s death?! I must be the only person who ever took notice of this!_

He opened the book and his gaze suddenly fell on the words written in runes.

_GREAT! ANCIENT RUNES DAMN IT!_

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted when he heard a muffled sound coming from his left.

He was startled and got on his feet, clutching his wand on his right hand, the other holding the book.

He pointed his wand at the hazy figure.

"OY! THAT'S BLOODY BRIGHT! KNOCK IT OFF!" A figure of a girl yelled, who was currently covering herself with her robe from the light.

"Huh? Who's there!? SHOW YOURSELF BEFORE I HEX YOU INTO OBLIVION." He demanded, grasping the book in a firm grip.

"Stop shouting, you git. It's me, Hermione Granger." She stood up and cast a _lumos_, so he could see her visibly.

"You really need that wand fixed. Too much power. Well, since you've arrived, I'm going." She finished, stood up and walked towards the door.

"No, you can stay. I don't mind." Draco smirked.

"Well, I don't want to breathe the same air you do. So if you would excuse me…" Her voiced trailed away as she walked slowly towards the door.

_Granger knows ancient runes… YES! GRANGER KNOWS ANCIENT RUNES!!! As much as I'd bloody hate to admit it, that class is actually very handy. I wonder why no one really takes it? Well, who cares, I need her help anyway._

"Granger, I need help with ancient runes." Draco grumbled; his words nearly not comprehensible.

"Sorry, what? I didn't quite catch that." Hermione turned around to face the blond.

"I. Need. Help. With. Ancient. Runes." He replied loud and clear.

"Oh? But I thought you didn't take that subject, what would you need me for?" Hermione cocked her head to the right and sneered.

"I found this." Draco walked up to her, and lowered his wand on the book, revealing its fine, black leather.

"A book? Don't tell me you can't read a book in Ancient Runes." Hermione snorted, still staring at the marvelous black leather bounded book.

"Look closely." He scowled and made the cover of the book face towards her.

Once the book was completely facing her, something had caught her eye. At the lower right portion of the book was engraved, the name of _"Salazar Slytherin"_

"Is that what I think that is?!" She gasped and snatched the book from his hands and scanned the cover of the book.

"Yes, shush. It is indeed a book written by Salazar Slytherin himself. Now quiet down. I don't want anybody listening." He whispered angrily, and grabbed back the book.

"What does this have to do with Ancient Runes?" She asked him, never leaving her eyes off the book.

"Well, Granger, would you mind if I asked you to stop drooling over the book and listen to me?" Malfoy rolled his eyes at the witch.

"I _am._ Now, like I asked, what does this have to do with ancient runes? Is it written in ancient runes?" She inquired, now facing the blonde's face.

"Precisely." He grinned mischievously.

"And now you need me to… translate it for you?" She snorted.

"Yes. As much as I'd hate to admit it, yes I am in desperate need of your help." Draco said embarrassedly.

"No. I'd rather spend time with that Whomping Willow than spend time with you. Who knows? This time, you might even have the guts to hex me." She frowned at the desperate boy.

_But if I don't, I might never get the chance to see this book again. Knowing that he'd keep it…_

"Mud-Hermione… Please. I really need to know what it says." Draco pleaded and bit his tongue after his sentence knowing that he had addressed the mudblood by her first name.

"Did you just call me by my first name?" Her eyes wide in shock.

"Yes, and I am very sure that you'd want to know about this book as much as I do. And who knows? This might be the last time you'd see it, knowing that I'll keep it." He grinned as he finally got a hold of his ego.

"You can't take a book! That's stealing! I could give you detention and take loads of house points from you!" She exasperated.

"Oh? But isn't threatening against the rules? Tut tut tut…" He smirked.

"But that wasn't a threat! Besides, what do you care about the rules?! AND you're the one attempting to steal here!" She said as her eyes flared.

"You are forgetting something, are you not? I am head boy, and you are head girl. We are of equal rankings, so if you give me detention and take house points, I can give you detention and house points. What a shame though, Hermione Granger having her first ever detention… Not to mention that you have a very, very clean conduct… Although… come to think of it, I don't really care whether you take points from me nor give me detention. I'm rather used to it. But you, on the other hand… It would be my honour to ruin your outstanding image, don't you think?" He said in a sing song voice.

"Malfoy." She grumbled.

"Yes, mudblood?"

"Fine. I'll read your stupid runes. But we have to make a deal."

"Okay, but don't push it."

"Number one, you are never to call me mudblood, only Granger. Number two, you are to leave me and my friends alone at all times except for our little meetings. Number three, after we are done reading this book, you are to give it to me. Number four, also after we are done translating this book, you are to completely ignore me. Got that?" Hermione grinned wolfishly.

"I told you not to push it, Granger. Those are too many demands."

"Then what do you prefer?!" She growled angrily.

"Number one, I will try to limit my address to you as mudblood to 5 times a day. Number two, I will be civil with you when we are in our little meetings. Number three, after we are done reading this book, I will copy it for you-but make sure you keep that, and number four… Well, I cannot oblige to that. You're too interesting to be left alone."

"Fine! But a deal is a deal. If you ever happen to break any of our deals, then you can kiss your book good bye!" Hermione snarled, sticking her nose up in the air.

Harry on the other hand, had now completely forgotten about his purpose of running down the dungeons and was preoccupied with his threat battle with none other than Pansy Parkinson.

"Poor Potter." Apparently, Pansy Parkinson followed him.

"Has the mudblood finally got under your precious, dainty skin? Has _the_ golden boy, Harry James Potter fallen madly for _the_ mudblood, Hermione Jane Granger? Is this why you're willing to kill me? Just for that mudblood? How pathetic! I mean, that Ravenclaw Cho Chang? Yes, that's her name. Cho Chang was pathetic as she her image was. I mean, crying over and over again for her long dead boyfriend… And _now_, you go after the lowest of the low? My, my… You need a reality check, Potter, I don't know that mudblood as much but I can hell say this, she would never love you as the way you love her. It may come into a possibility that you two go out together, but as much as I am dreading to admit it, she would love Weasel more as a boyfriend but never you. She would love you as only as a bloody friend, and I can assure of that. Heck, she might even fall in love with Draco, but never you. She has a lot of respect in you, Potter, and she loves you deeply. But her feelings aren't willing to go over the boundaries." Pansy said seriously, looking at the floor as she finished her sentence.

This made Harry think. Has Pansy actually made a point? Has she finally hurt Harry with that last sentence? Did Harry really love Hermione? How was Pansy so sure of it? He hasn't even proven it himself, and here she was accusing him of loving his own best friend as more than one?

He had to think of a retort, but nothing came out. Instead, he said, "How can you be so sure of yourself?"

"I know I don't look much, but I have a brain. Well, one that works by instincts, that is. I'm a girl, you oaf." Pansy went back to her normal screeching, otherwise known as her laughing.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" He asked.

_MERLIN! I WAS GOING AFTER HERMIONE!_ _Harry, you moron!_

He had mentally punched himself.

"I was going after Draco but YOU showed up and stopped me." Pansy realized that she too, had forgotten about Draco as she was deeply engrossed at their conversation.

"Bloody hell. I was going after Hermione. Well, I have to go to the head common rooms, now." Harry scratched his head in exasperation.

Harry immediately took off without Pansy's reply. He started running, then got tired, then ended up walking. Suddenly, he noticed footsteps behind him, and turned around.

"PANSY!? WHY ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME?!" Harry's eyes bulged in annoyance.

"Because, you fool, I was going after Draco. But then, YOU stopped me. So when you took off, I took off for the head common rooms as well. Into my bloody surprise, YOU were going in the same way. Get it now, Potter?" Her eye suddenly twitched.

"I'm getting tired of your voice." Harry sighed.

"EXCUSE ME FOR MY VOICE! YOU S-" She screeched but was cut by Harry's growl.

"Just shut up and let's go."

Thus, the two ran (well walked as they got tired) to the head common rooms.

Malfoy sat down beside Hermione on the floor, yawning and said, "Okay, explain that to me once again? You're talking too fast. I'm not Merlin, you know."

"Once again, for the umpteenth time…

_**May 14th, Tuesday**_

_**Before I start my entry, I would like to introduce myself. I am Salazar Malforus Slytherin, I currently study at a wizarding school called NEWS which stood for New England Wizarding School. I am 16, and turning 17 this 5th of June. Well, that's all to tell for no**__**w, carry on.**_

_**Entry:**_

_**Okay, Wenny (Rowena) has been pestering me quite a lot. She keeps telling me how to do this, or how to do that. It's very annoying. She kept ranting about her hair, about how shaggy it is. But believe me… it's much worse than that. She'd look like a tree if she wore something brown. But nonetheless, that witch has been driving my knuts up the wall! STUDY STUDY STUDY! She yells. Not to mention that she screams at me for no **__**apparent reason. Well, probably that's because I mock her about her hair, or how her teeth looks, but believe me, it's tolerable. On the other hand, Helga keeps seducing me into bed. Of course, I have nothing against that, but that lady never takes a break! I mean, she comes to me when she needs a good shag, cling to me as if I was her girlfriend which she is not. I mean, if she was, I wouldn't be shagging everyone in school, right? Okay, I'd still would. But nonetheless, she's least of my concern. Wenny just keeps on BUGGING ME! I mean, not that I hate her company… ARGH! And damn that Ric (Godric). He bloody thinks he's so high and mighty. I'd bloody beat him at duels anytime. Damn him to hell. What's worse is that he's my worst enemy and Wenny is his best friend! It's just all to annoying! But he can keep Wenny and her muddle blood (muggle blood I call it that.) Agh! AND NOW HERE SHE IS RANTING AGAIN!!!! I have to go, before she drags me into the library to study.**_

_**Very Annoyed,**_

_**Zar (Salazar Slytherin)**__"_

"Goodness that Rowena is far too annoying. She reminds me of you. Bucktoothed, shaggy haired, bossy… It's just all too you!" Draco laughed.

"I beg your pardon, I am not bossy! Take that back at once!" Hermione snarled angrily.

"See?" Draco muffled a laugh.

Hermione sighed as she read the next entry to Draco.

Pansy started shrieking in panic.

"THEY'RE NOT HERE!!! WHERE ARE THEY!? YOU BETTER HAVE AN EXPLANATION FOR THIS, POTTER OR I'LL HEX YOU INTO THE NEXT GENERATION AND YOU'LL-"

But was cut by a very annoyed Harry.

"Shut your mouth or _I'll_ hex you to the next generation." Harry growled in exasperation and gripped his black, tussled hair between his fingers.

"Hey Potter, by any chance… Do you think they could be together?" She asked softly, her eyes wide and it spelled _**"PANIC".**_

"No, Parkinson. I don't think so. They hate each other, remember? Or are you now too daft to even remember that?" Harry rolled his eyes at the woman's stupidity.

"I'm not daft, you oak! I'm just asking!" She huffed, sticking her nose up in the air.

"I do have a hunch where Hermione is… But I'm sure that you best not go there since you don't like her and might slap her again." Harry's voice lowered.

"But what if she's with Malfoy?" Pansy's voice saddened.

"Then come with me, and we'll find out."

"Okay." She grinned sincerely, then figuring out what she just did, she quickly turned her grin into a smirk.

They started walking out of the head common rooms and their next destination was the library.

"Oh and Pansy, one more thing?" Harry stopped walking abruptly, causing Pansy to bump into him.

"Ouch! What?" She screeched.

"That."

"That what?"

"Your screeching, please lower it down. It's really, really giving me a blasted head ache." Harry said as his right hand started to massage his temple.

"Sorry, can't help it. It's a mannerism." Pansy rolled her eyes.

"Pull out your wand. We might stumble into something… nasty. Be careful."

Harry muttered as he took out his own wand and gripped it in caution.

"He shrunk his willie? HAHAAHHAAHAHH! PRICELESS!!!!" Malfoy laughed as he held his stomach and laughed harder.

Hermione didn't reply but merely stared at him.

"Well? Go on, keep reading! I'm not being nice to you without a reason, after all." He said, still chuckling.

She nodded and kept reading.

"_**May 19th, Sunday**_

_**Well, Wenny slapped me this morning as she found out about her… missing hair. IT'S NOT MY FAULT! I had to get revenge! Well… I'll tell you the WHOLE stor**__**y so you'd understand me.**_

_**Well… It was potions with Madame Contelle and she was pairing up the class in two. Of course, Helga wanted to be my partner but instead, I got paired up with Wenny… (Great, just great.) She was teaching us how to brew shrinking potions. Wenny and I wanted to have our own stash of shrinking potions, so we doubled the ingredients… We started to grin like wolves when the blue smoke suddenly appeared which means the potion was ready and we were to extract from the cauldron, and into the viles. Do you know how HARD it was? We had to use droppers, an instrument from the muddle world (Yes, I call muggles muddles. Why? Well, they remind me of mud.) Nevertheless, Madame Contelle was explaining the precautions when extracting the potion from the cauldron. But noooo! Wenny was too excited and started extracting as fast as she can when suddenly…**_

"_**BLOODY MERLIN WHAT WAS THAT?!" I screamed when I felt a painful sting on my crotch.**_

"_**LANGUAGE, MISTER SLYTHERIN!" Madame Contelle roared.**_

"_**OH MY GOD, ZAR! ARE YOU OKAY?!" Wenny shrieked and dropped the empty vile into the floor. I watched the glass shattered as her other hand was still holding the dropper.**_

"_**What happened here?!" Madame Contelle panicked, now the whole class was paying all attention to me, and not to their cauldrons.**_

"_**I.. I… I dropped some potion into Zar's pants by accident." Wenny stuttered.**_

_**The bulge in my pants started getting smaller. 'Was it just me?' I thought. But no, I knew it. My willie had gotten smaller. I knew it. My willie was the most sensitive part of my body, I could tell.**_

_**I stood up abruptly and roared at Madame Contelle, "I HAVE TO GO TO THE LOO!"**_

_**Her eyes, panic stricken, she stuttered and nodded.**_

_**Off I go to the loo, and I knew it. When I stuck my hand inside my knickers, my eyes went wide. I fumbled through my pants and put it down just so I could see my shrunken willie clearly.**_

"_**ARGH**__**!" My bawl echoed throughout the loo, the halls, heck, it was too loud that everyone could practically hear it.**_

_**I put up my pants, and buckled my belt, then stomped back into the potions room then slammed the door behind me and roared,**_

"_**ROWENA TELLIUS RAVENCLAW, DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE DONE?! DO YOU KNOW WHAT DISGRACE YOU CAUSED ME?! DO YOU KNOW HOW TO FIX THIS?!?!"**_

_**Rowena's staring eyes were beady and scared. Fear could be practically seen in her eyes. I was pretty sure that she knew what she'd done.**_

(At this part, Hermione and Draco were both laughing their arse off that their voices were echoed throughout the room.)

"_**Calm down, Mister Slytherin, the potion will wear off soon." Madame Contelle said soothingly, but still my eyes were prying into Rowena's. (Yes, I call her this when I'm furious at her.)**_

"_**IT WAS A BLASTED ACCIDENT! I'M SORRY!!" Rowena screamed in exasperation.**_

"_**Sit down, Mister Slytherin… I'm sure your... vitality will grow back into its normal size soon." Madame Contelle was clearly holding back a laugh.**_

_**As the whole class realized what had happened, everybody started sniggering and left me very, very, VERY angry at Rowena.**_

_**By the time dinner ended, the whole school knew about Rowena's little "accident" and started making rumors about how she had planned it all from the beginning. And being my vulnerable self, I believed the rumors.**_

_**As we came back from our very disturbing dinner…**_

"_**LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE! FIRST YOU SHRINK MY PENIS AND YOU MADE ME CANCEL MY DATE FOR TONIGHT!" I screamed in a very, very, angry tone. I have been wanting a good shag tonight. When I finally get a date with the hottest girl in school, Emily Lockhart, Rowena comes in and drops that blasted potion into my innocent penis, and boom! No shagging, no drop dead gorgeous, no null. Good going, Rowena.**_

_**But anyway, this is merely my full detailed entry of the previous entry before this one, since the previous one marked May 18th only said,**_

"_**Rowena shrunk my penis. No date.**_

_**Aggravated,**_

_**Zar"**_

_**So earlier this morning, I cast a spell on her while she was sleeping and made her lose all her hair! BLOODY BRILLIANT I SAY!!**_

_**Very drained,**_

_**Zar**_

THAT BLOODY BASTARD! HOW COULD HE?! IT WAS CLEARLY AN ACCIDENT!" Hermione gasped as she finished reading the 5th entry (which is the 18th of March)

"Well, if you ask me, it's a brilliant prank! She was better off without hair anyway. Besides, she did shrink his penis. I wouldn't know what to do with Pansy if she did do that." Draco snorted in amusement.

"Well, she couldn't. Pansy's brain can't accommodate such knowledge. Heck, she can't even stir up a simple _Deflating Draught_. What more if you asked her to make a shrinking potion." Hermione's voice trailed of as she burst into laughter with Draco.

"I daresay, you are quite correct!" Together, they laughed like there was no forever.

Harry was busy looking for Hermione in every corner of the non-restricted section. He fumbled through every shelf, every table, and every_t__hing_. No Hermione or Draco _(insert Harry's shudder here)_

"I'm tired. It's nearly midnight. OY! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?" Pansy whined.

"Give me a sec." Harry mumbled.

"Potter, by any chance do you think they could be in the restricted section?" She asked him quietly.

"What do you mean _they_? Like I said, they are not together. Malfoy's just probably skulking somewhere out of sight. But not with Hermione." He replied, almost unsure of what he said.

"Let's just go." Pansy grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the restricted section.

Malfoy and Hermione now were now in one corner, sharing stifled laughs, cautious that someone might hear them so they cut down to mere giggles.

Suddenly, a familiar angry screech came out of nowhere along with a worried familiar voice.

Startled, Malfoy quickly dispelled his lumos spell and muttered an invisibility charm on the book.

"DRACO MALFOY?! ARE YOU IN HERE?!" He knew the voice all too well. By no doubt, it was Pansy Parkinson's.

"PANSY?!" Draco's eyes widened as the screeching girl cast a lumos to light the room.

"HERMIONE?!"

"HARRY?!"

All together they shouted, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?!"

"Draco, I demand an explanation on WHY you are with this _mudblood_. And I want to know it **NOW!**" Pansy fumed.

"I- I…" Draco stuttered but Harry cut in.

"Hermione? What are you doing with _him_?" His mouth open, shocked and his eyes as wide as can be.

"I was. We found a…" Into Hermione's horror, Pansy was staring her down, and next thing she knew it, she couldn't speak.

"Actually, she was crying. Being the gentleman I am, I couldn't possibly bear watching the girl and leave her alone like that, even though she was a mudblood. So I comforted her." Draco said, as he ran his fingers through his silky, blonde hair.

"Hermione?" Harry's head cocked slightly to his left.

"It worked. I mean, he comforted me very well." She sighed in relief.

"_Good thing I'm used to lying, or we could kiss our sorry arses good bye."_ She heard Draco say in her mind.

"_Thanks. For lying." _She thought back.

"But now that it's over…" Draco pushed Hermione towards Harry.

"You can take her back. And make sure that your friend doesn't go against her curfew hours. I could easily give her detention for this. But I am feeling quite nice today, so. Cheerio!" Malfoy plastered a fake grin, grabbed Pansy's arm with his left hand, and the book tightly gripped on his right.

By the time Pansy and Draco left the library, Harry and Hermione were discussing about her disappearance and the _real_ reason why she was with Malfoy.

Or course, she lied.

"Well, Draco was looking for a book on immortality and had a hard time reading ancient runes so I read a chapter to the book to him. That's all."

"_Well, I didn't really lie… I just told him the wrong book, that's all. Yes, so that isn't entirely lying, is it?_" She said to herself.

"Who knew the bloody git was too stupid that he can't even read ancient runes?" Harry bought the _lie_, and laughed hard.

"But anyway, I was thinking about the skirts… How long should they be? I mean, I shan't go around looking like a skank, but I want something attractive. And about my hair, I found this awesome shampoo and I really wanted to try it out. I need help with the skirt, Harry. So let's start working right now!" Hermione completely changed the subject and broke no sweat.

"Okay." Harry yawned as they entered Hermione's bed room.

By the time the clock struck to one-thirty in the morning, they had finished all her skirts and Hermione decided to try one of their _masterpieces_.

When she finished slipping one of her skirts on in her bathroom, she exited slowly and bit her lip, finding a very groggy Harry sitting on her bed.

"So Harry…" She started and started chewing on her lower lip.

Harry immediately turned around and opened his mouth, saying, "Hermione…"

"What do you think?" She grinned, turning around, at the full length mirror in front of her, checking all sides and she admitted she looked good.

"Wow." Harry was now wide awake, his eyes bulging at the impeccable sight.

"And now all I have to do is the hair…" She chuckled and sat down beside her best friend on her bed, leaning her head sleepily on his right shoulder.

**A/N: Reminder, I reposted this under a new Pen Name. ****Please review.**


	3. Why The Change?

**Turning of the Tides**

**Chapter three: Why the change?**

"Pansy, look! I was _just _comforting her. I had all rights since I did make her cry… Well, technically you did, but I started it. Granger and I didn't do anything, besides, why would I touch that Mudblood in any way!?" Draco tried to get out of Pansy's grip but she just wouldn't let go of his arm.

Pansy looked at him with tears brimming her eyes. "But you were with her! AND the fact that you comforted her! What do you care about that Mudblood anyway?!"

"I _DON'T_, Pansy! Why can't that information sink in your bloody little brain!? AND why are you acting like a jealous girlfriend when you are NOT?!" This time, he successfully got out of her death grip and nursed his right arm for it was starting to get numb.

"For your bloody information, we are ENGAGED AND I LOVE YOU!!! Isn't that enough to satisfy your blasted questions?! I HAVE ALL RIGHTS TO GET JEALOUS AFTER ALL." Pansy was hurting as she screamed, no not the usual screeching, but she was clearly damaged by his remark.

"We are engaged until I find a woman, Pansy. Father had made that clear to you." Draco stared at her coldly.

Pansy said nothing. This time, we was aware that he had hurt her by his remarks and changed the subject.

"And shouldn't I be asking you why you were with _Potter?_" He smirked.

"Are you daft?! We were looking for you. Well, we got into an argument earlier… We eventually set out to find both of you since I had a hunch that you with her and he was desperate to look for his beloved Hermione." She shuddered as she mentioned Hermione with her first name.

"_What in the world?! A mind reader?!_" His eyes bulged in discreet as she had told him about her 'hunch'.

"But you could have left Potter alone and find me without his help, now, could you?" His eyebrow rose at the slytherin.

"_Pansy better find out about that book. She'd make a bloody fortune out of it if she ever finds it. But I have to keep it safe._" He stared at the bed where he laid his 'invisible' book when Pansy wasn't looking earlier.

"And same goes to you with Granger, right?" Pansy smirked back. She wasn't about to allow Draco over power her in this argument.

"Right and that settles it. Let's leave the matter alone and pretend this never happened." Draco sighed in defeat. He wasn't about to allow Pansy see or know-for that matter-about that book. He'd never ever let her.

She smirked in victory. Never had she overpowered Draco Malfoy in a game of debate.

She turned around and suddenly fumbled into his closet- obviously searching for something.

While Pansy wasn't looking, Draco put the book under his bed and turned around swiftly as if nothing happened.

"_Let's just hope she didn't see that…_" He bit his lip and stared at her.

"What in the world are you doing?" He spat at her, making her jump and turn alert.

She held something in her hand. It seemed like one of Draco's old white button down shirts-which he barely used. She then grinned mischievously and whispered, "Can I sleep here for tonight?"

"Pansy, I'm very tired. I need rest. What do you need to sleep here anyway?" He rolled his eyes as he went into her thoughts secretly, looking at her as if he wasn't doing anything.

"_Could you be any dafter, Draco? I want hot sex with you. I really need a good shag. That golden boy worked me up so much and kept drilling me for answers." _She thought.

Draco smirked at the thoughts swimming in her mind. Who knew that Pansy Parkinson actually could think? Hilarious, but true.

"Drilling you for answers? What did he ask you anyway?" He asked as he raised an eyebrow. Pansy blushed when she realized that Draco was listening to everything that she was thinking about.

"Personal matters, Draco. But yes. He did ask me many things. But, it's got nothing to do with you." Pansy smirked flirtingly as she seemed to have recovered.

"But… there is something that you might get interested in… It's about the Mudblood…" She added and raised her eyebrows.

"Oh? What about her?" His voice suddenly perked up when he heard her name. "Is it something that I can use to blackmail her?" he continued.

"Well, it's more on you can use it to blackmail Potter." Wiggling her eyebrows, she started to undress and slipped into the oversized white button down shirt she took from Draco's closet.

"Which is?" he replied as he stared at Pansy's body, a trophy for every Slytherin, and thank Merlin she was all his.

"Harry Potter is smitten with Mudblood, Hermione Granger." Pansy snorted and twirled a lock of her hair.

"Are you sure about that, Pansy? I mean, you know that your information almost always isn't correct."

"I know that, but I'm positive about this." Pansy started going towards Draco.

Soon enough, her hands were snaking up and down his chest.

"Brilliant. Abso_bloody_lutely brilliant. Who knew that you can actually please me in other ways aside from giving me a good shag?"

"Well, don't I get a reward? I did do well after all, and you do have to make up about what you just said." Pansy wrapped her arms around his neck and looked at him with heavy-lidded eyes.

"Yes, indeed you will. But now you'll have to end up sleeping here, now wouldn't you?" Draco's eyes watched her, his eyes filled with lust.

"Absolutely." She tiptoed and gave him a soft kiss.

"_Bloody Witch, you should be grateful that I feel like shagging tonight_." He said as he pushed Pansy onto the bed.

Draco pulled her back on top of him and kissed her torridly. His signs of drowsiness were clearly gone, and now he was in the mood.

Pansy was granted her happiness.

Their tongues colliding against each other, feeling the heat of each other's body, Draco touching every inch of her body, it felt all too right to her.

None of the men in Hogwarts made her feel so good… so right. None of them touched her in such a way that she could literally melt in his arms. However, she wondered, was it because Draco was a professional at this? Is it because he practices on every beautiful girl that he could get hold of?

Nonetheless, Pansy Parkinson was in love with Draco Malfoy, regardless of whether he's shagged almost every woman befitting him in Hogwarts.

Draco grabbed on to the collar of the over sized shirt and crashed their mouths together, hungrily rubbing his knee against her knickers which he found surprisingly wet.

"Draco…" She moaned against his lips.

"Pansy, you're—" He chuckled as he pulled away and took a deep breath. He started unbuttoning the shirt she was wearing as quickly as he could.

"Do it, I need you." She growled and quickly unbuttoned his shirt in a matter of seconds and snaked her hands up and down his chest.

"Draco!" She cried out.  
"Pansy, love, keep your voice down."  
"Ahh…"

"_Fuck."_

"Unh…"

Muffled screams, moans, and groans of pleasure echoed through the four walls of Draco's head room.

Meanwhile in Hermione's room (which is a just a few good meters away from the Slytherin's head room…)

"Hermione? Do you hear something? Or is it just me?" Harry asked Hermione.

"That's Draco and some girl - probably Pansy. They do it every night. I'm practically used to it." Hermione rolled her eyes as she too, listened to the moans coming from a certain Draco Malfoy's room.

"Disgusting prat. If I were him, I'd be better off studying for our N.E. or probably reading or even simply SLEEPING! At this hour! Honestly, he must be the most disgraceful Malfoy ever born." Hermione huffed.

"I guess you're right. But on the brighter side, you look bloody brilliant in those." Harry winked, pointing to her skirt.

"I find those two topics utterly different from one another. But nevertheless, thank you for that… comment."

"Hermione, would it be okay if I slept in your couch? I'm really sleepy and I doubt that the fat lady portrait would let me in at this hour." Harry sighed as he cast a quick tempus, finding out that it was half past two in the morning.

"Goodness! I'm terribly sorry for keeping you awake at such an hour." Hermione said frantically.

"Sleep on the bed, Harry. I don't think I'll be getting any sleep right now." Hermione sighed.

"Is there something on your mind?" Harry yawned as he accepted her offer.

"Just a small case of insomnia." She smiled at the sleepy boy.

"Insomnia?"

"Hmm… I'll explain tomorrow?I mean, later. Please do rest. Your eyes are practically begging for sleep."

"Mmm… Okay, if you say so. You don't mind, do you?" Harry's eyes were literally drooping.

"No, not at all. I'll be writing my mum and dad. You know, filling them in on what's happened." She said as she turned on the coil lamp on her study table, and sat down then started writing a letter.

"Harry?" She asked.

No response.

"Are you still awa—" She turned around to see Harry fast asleep, not even bothering to pull up the sheets to cover his body from the cold.

"That sleepy?" She chuckled and went over to Harry so that she could cover him with a blanket.

She watched Harry sleep for a good half hour. Standing there, just thinking of the adventures she had with her dear friends Harry and Ron…

**First year** – They meet Malfoy who reaches out a hand for friendship but Harry declines.

Off to the troll who attacked Hermione and also where Ron and Harry saves her to Fluffy the three headed dog, to the devil's snare where Ron had frantically panicked and somehow managed to get through along with her and Harry, then to the mind boggling game of life size chess where Ron had played knight and had given up himself in order for Harry to go through to the mirror of Erised where he had obtained the Sorcerer's Stone and also where he had battled and defeated Professor Quirrel whose half head was the head of Voldemort's.

**Second year** – The year in which many had happened… Ron and his brothers Fred and George had gone as far as 'rescuing' Harry with their dad's flying car then missing the train to Hogwarts to crashing into the Whomping Willow… It had been hysterical especially the howler Mrs. Weasley had sent Ron after the Whomping Willow incident. But it doesn't end there… They meet a new Professor who ends up banishing his own memory - Gilderoy Lockhart. The first time they had taken Polyjuice Potion… Ending up as a cat-human, also finding out that Harry could speak Parseltongue was a great twist! Everyone thought that he was the heir of Slytherin. Funny, very funny.

Then the petrifying begins. Even she had been petrified by the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. Then Harry saves Ginny… nearly dying from doing so. But good thing Fawkes, the phoenix, was there to help.

**Third year **– Oh third year was a very happy and exciting year for her. From Malfoy getting slashed by Buckbeak after he insults it, to punching Malfoy square on the nose, then finding out that Harry indeed has family aside from the Dursleys who is none other than Sirius Black - the 'so called' serial killer. It was truly memorable.

**Fourth year – **It had been a mix of good and bad. She accompanies Viktor Krum to the Yule Ball – who could not pronounce her name 'herm-own-ninny' (insert Hermione's loud snort here), then Harry mysteriously gets in the Triwizard tournament, and the worst part was that Cedric dies right before Harry's eyes. Quite disturbing, actually.

**Fifth year **– Most dreadful year of all. Sirius, Harry's Godfather, gets killed. It was also when Harry started a rebellion, The D.A.- Dumbledore's Army, against Professor Umbridge, who takes Dumbledore's place. Also when Harry has his first ever kiss and goes out with Cho Chang.

_(A/N: Okay, in this story, I won't follow what happens in book 6- Half blood Prince. Coz if I did, then no more Malfoy in Hogwarts, no more Snape, and no more Dumbledore.)_

**Sixth year **– Hogwarts gets invaded by Death Eaters and Voldemort appears before Harry. Suddenly, Harry's parents Lily and James' soul comes to Harry's aid (once again like what happened in the fourth book) and when Voldemort attempts to cast the Avada Kedavra on Harry, Lily and James' soul somehow protected Harry and the spell backfires. A few seconds after the backfire of Voldemort's spell, the Dark Mark on all the death eaters' arm painfully vanishes away. Harry is soon found unconscious by Professor Trelawney and immediately brings Harry to the hospital wing where he lay for one week unconscious.

**Seventh year** – From the Sorcerer's Stone to the petrifying Chamber of Secrets into fighting side by side with the Prisoner of Azkaban or known as Sirius - Harry's godfather to the Triwizard cup then to the horrifying death of Sirius and now it all ends with the defeat of the Dark Lord. Hermione is now dreadfully curious. Scared of what will happen in their final year at Hogwarts - now that they're at peace.

'_I'm happy for you, Harry. You finally get peace now…_' She whispers.

Many things had happened to Harry and she was happy to have been there for him.

She kissed Harry's forehead lightly and went back to the table to write her parents.

_**Dear Mum and Dad,**_

_**It's been quite the start of a year. Harry's grown much taller now and so has Ron. Ron's been quite distant lately, but we think that it's because of a girl. I'm happy that he's moved on though. Ever since… we broke up. But anyway, how are things going? Things are fine here, I'm sort of stressing since our N.E. are coming up. I've been thinking of working for the Ministry, in the department under magical creatures. Maybe I might even enter a Muggle University – but I'll need Professor Dumbledore's help with that. Nevertheless, I'm not quite sure what will happen really. But I wish myself the best of luck with that. And maybe in time, I'll have the chance to tell you everything that's been happening here. I'll owl you every time I get the chance to fill you in with what's up here.**_

_**Your loving daughter,**_

_**Hermione**_

She sighed as she finished her letter. It pained her to keep her adventures at Hogwarts, but it was better that way. Who knows? If they do, they might have even taken her away from Hogwarts for good.

Turning to her owl, Lucy – a small, orange owl, she whispered, "Okay, I want you to send this to Mum and Dad. Uh, and don't bite them, okay? I'm sure they'll feed you there."

The owl gratefully took the letter and flew out of the window.

"_Tempus." _She muttered and yellow numbers appeared in the air - obviously telling the time.

It was 3:20 am.

She quickly grabbed a book under her desk and started doing some light reading on _Hogwarts, a History_.

"Draco…" Pansy muttered in her sleep.

He stared at the Slytherin beside him and whispered, "Are you awake?"

No answer.

_Good! Now it'd be the best time to discuss the book with Granger._

"_Granger. Are you awake?" _Draco's voice seemed to be ringing inside her head.

"_Malfoy? What do you want now? I'm doing a bit of light reading." _She hissed.

"_Get out of my mind, Malfoy." _Hermione demanded.

"_Granger, we have to talk about the book. I can't hide it here. It's too unsafe." _Draco said quietly.

"_Well, that's your problem. If you want you can keep it at Gringotts." _She snorted.

"_That would be overrated. How about you keep it? It's not like Potter can steal it or anything."_

"_Okay."_

"_Can you come out? We can't risk being seen with this if we do it during the day."_

"_Won't Pansy mind?"_

"_Believe me, she's exhausted."_

"_I can tell. Must have been a long night, eh?"_

"_Ha ha, don't tell me that you're jealous?"  
"Don't get friendly with me. Hurry up. I've got more things to finish."_

"_Such as?"_

"_None of your business."_

"_Touchy, touchy. Okay. Be out in a minute."_

Hermione quickly stood up from her chair as Draco lost contact with her, tiptoeing hurriedly but quiet enough to not wake the boy sleeping in her bed.

Just about as Draco was going to get off the bed, Pansy unconsciously wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Pansy, I have to go to the loo." Draco whispered into Pansy's ear.

"Mnnhmm…" she moaned and shifted her position to a much more favorable one. (Her whole body including her head was covered by the sheets.)

_Good. Now, the book… There it is!_

He silently took the book from under the bed and cast an invisibility spell on it. Realizing that he was wearing nothing, he put the book down on the floor and quickly dressed himself, quiet enough not to wake the sleeping Slytherin.

His clothes were wrinkled, and he didn't have much time to button all of the buttons present in his shirt. But then again, he was just going to give the book.

_FUCK WHERE'S THE BOOK?!_

**THUMP.**

_Oh, there it is._

He felt for the book and gripped it tightly, then tiptoed out the door.

Hermione was waiting outside Draco's room when she realized that she was still wearing the INCREDIBLY short skirt. Well, not that short, but for her, its **incredibly** short.

She was about to go back and change when suddenly,

"Granger?" Draco croaked and stared at her attire.

"Uh yeah, look, I'm in a hurry so uh the book?" She stammered, and tried to cover her thighs.

"Er, sure. Here. Uh, is that you?" He was now staring at her legs.

"Of course, who do you think I'd be? A troll in disguise? Now, I have to go." Hermione motioned to go back.

"Granger I uh. You. Er. I."

"You er I er. You er what?!" her voice rose.

"Keep it safe?" Draco's stammering state quickly transformed into his usual smug one.

"Indeed I will."

"Okay then. Take care of the book."

"Yes, yes. I must be going." She walked off slowly, careful not to run so that nothing else would be exposed.

"Granger, you lose it, you pay with your life." His snarl was heard by no one else but her.

Hermione shuddered and went back to her room, slamming her door shut, causing Harry to wake up.

"a-Miney? Mo-nin' already?" a very sleepy Harry yawned.

She went to the bed and sat down the sleepy figure.

"Yes, Harry. But you can go back to sleep. I'll wake you when it's time to get up." She smiled and stroked his blackish brown tussled hair.

"Mm… 'kay." Harry curled up into a ball beside her, with Hermione still stroking his hair.

She stood up and dispelled the invisibility charm on the book then started reading it.

For some reason, her mind wasn't registering clearly. She shook her head and slammed the book shut.

This time, it woke Harry up completely.

"WHAT?! WHAT? Huh. Hm." A stirred Harry exclaimed as he shot out of bed.

"Relax. I—I was just." She looked at the book in her hands and quickly hid the title by pressing it against her chest.

"Hermione? What's that?" Harry eyed the book in interest.

"It's a… D—Herbology book. Yes, that's what it is." She grinned nervously.

"But that's not how our book looks like…" Harry's voice seemed to trail off. He didn't believe her for some reason.

"It's an old edition. For seventh years. You know…" She sighed in relief, and this time, she knew that Harry bought this.

"Oh. I see. I don't wanna read that. Well, would you like to get some breakfast? It's 6:30 after all." Harry grinned.

"How about we take a bath first? Besides, I need to fix my hair." She grinned.

"Oh, together? I don't think that'd be appropriate…" Harry stared at her.

"Silly boy! Of course not! Besides, you don't have clothes here, remember? I suggest you bathe in your common room."

"Okay." He grinned boyishly, running a hand through his ruffled hair.

"Meet you downstairs, then." Harry nodded and so did she.

Harry was the first to go down for breakfast.

No sight of Hermione, so he sat beside Ron.

"Mornin', Harry. Where were you last night? I don't think I've seen you at all since dinner. What happened?" Ron, who was currently chewing on toast, asked.

"I was in Hermione's room. Fell asleep. I was asking help in Double Potions. You know, Snape and his 'extra credit homework'." Harry lied.

"Well, it's more like, 'more homework-so I can torture you senselessly-work.' Mental, that Snape. Honestly, he should find a girl to settle down with. Or maybe he prefers men… But I don't think anyone aside from Lucius Malfoy would actually go for that greasy git." Ron laughed but choked on his toast.

Which was when Harry started laughing, more like snorting. But stopped when every pair of eyes were staring at Hermione who had just walked in the Great hall.

_Was this Hermione? _He thought.

Her hair was soft and wavy. Her curls were still present, but not the usual shaggy ones. Her blouse seemed to fit her now, and not the oversized one that she wears so that no one would see her developing breasts. And her skirt, sweet mother of Merlin, someone stab Harry now. It was shorter, mid-thigh and not usual length that she had worn throughout her years in Hogwarts.

She was Merlin forbid, the epitome of the innocent and good, yet gorgeous enough for someone to just grab her right there and then and screw her senseless.

"_Bloody hell, is that Granger? The Mudblood?"_

"_Merlin, kill me. I'm having a hard-on."_

"_Mordred, is that Hermione?"_

Voices, whispers, groans from all of the tables erupted the second she stepped a toe inside the Great Hall.

She glanced at the tables consciously and she quickly paced her way beside Harry.

"Hermione? 'Mione!? What the hell did you do to yourself?!" Ron laughed, and she pouted.

"Well excuse me, for trying to look good."

"You look beautiful, Hermione." Harry grinned at her.

She blushed and said, "Thanks."

"Merlin forbid, Hermione, you look stunning. Want to go out? Hogsmeade? You and me? Alone? Together?" Dean Thomas flirted as he stared at her like a dog staring at some piece of meat.

"Shut up, Dean, or I'll hex you into a toad." Ron snapped, both Hermione and Harry giggled.

"Sorry, Dean. I'm not available." Hermione said politely.

"So you're taken?" Harry eyed her questioningly.

"Me, taken? Are you finally out of your wits? Of course not!" She laughed but paused when a voice in her head started to talk.

She turned around, and stared at the Slytherin table with a casual look on her face. She didn't see Draco anywhere. But she saw Pansy Parkinson with her mouth open, Theodore Nott who looked like he was having about to snap his wand, Crabbe and Goyle who merely stared at her stupidly (like that's not new) and also to her surprise, from the far end at Pansy's right was Blaise Zabini, sitting with a beautiful blonde girl, minding his own business.

Her eyes locked with Blaise's for a moment, and then she quickly turned around and turned scarlet.

"Hermione? Who're you looking at?" Ron asked her.

"I don't think this was a good idea. Everybody's staring at me as if I was hell itself who had frozen over. No one, Ronald. Not staring at anyone." She said quietly, enough for Ron and Harry to hear.

"Honestly, Hermione, I think you're pretty damn hot right now. Better look out coz you might even turn me bisexual." Ginny laughed as she sat down beside Hermione.

"So why the change?" Ginny raised an eyebrow and leaned on her palm.

"Coz. I just wanted to." Hermione shrugged, and for the umpteenth time, she had answered to that bloody question.

The very disturbing breakfast had ended and she had barely gotten in DADA class without getting swooned over by people asking her, "Why the change?"

"_Bloody Mordred. Don't these people take a ruddy break? This is driving me up the wall!"_

She growled to herself, glaring at the many smirks thrown at her face by random Slytherins, Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs. Suddenly, Ron tapped her shoulder and said, "Hermione, do you mind the top buttons of your shirt? Two of them are unbuttoned, and Blaise Zabini keeps staring at you like some bloody piece of candy."

"Let him stare then." She sneered, actually feeling comfortable now with her new attire with Ron fussing over her every move.

"Honestly." Ron grumbled.

**Fast Forward**

"Hey, have you noticed Blaise and Malfoy's not talking?" Parvati whispered to her during Transfigurations. They had been practicing how to turn animals into another animal. Ron tried horribly into turning his owl, Pigwidgeon into a rat. Apparently, rats now look like horribly mutated pink gerbils with large buckteeth.

A failure.

"_Poor Ron."_ She thought. He was merely trying to do his best. Although now deeply engrossed in a talk of Quidditch with none other than yours truly, Seamus Finnigan - who had been lately rumored to be gay. They are yet to find out.

"_What are you sniggering at, Mudblood?"_

She frowned as Malfoy spoke inside her mind. Apparently, blonde, bouncing ferrets are now allowed to toy with people's brains by barging into them. (Although surprised at the fact that he was in class. She thought that he wasn't going to get into class today, thinking that he was sick since he wasn't in breakfast that morning.)

"_None of your bloody business, Malfoy. Oh, and why are you not talking to Blaise? Has he finally fed with your blasted attitude problem?" _

She smirked at his direction. She was at the second row from the back of the left side of the room, and Malfoy was at the very back at the far right side of the room.

"_Well, let's just say that the dog may get lost without the guidance of his master."_

She raised a brow and turned away from his direction, then started scribbling furiously on a piece of parchment:

_**Zabini,**_

_**Thanks for the other day.**_

_**-Granger**_

"_What a stupid sentence coming from you."_She snapped.

"_Writing me a love letter, Granger? I have too much of those. Don't need one from you."_ He snorted.

"_Actually. It's not for you."_Smirking, she charmed the letter to fly to Zabini's table.

Blaise looked surprised but grinned as he realized who it was from. He didn't reply into the parchment. But simply, he winked at her.

She giggled back and Malfoy was displeased at the actions that they were showing.

"_You could have fancied me, for goodness sake. But Zabini?!"_

"SHUT UP, MALFOY!" She growled loudly, this time, not inside her mind but out loud, where everyone could hear.

He smirked and said inside her mind, _**"Oops."**_

"What's your damage, Mudblood? I wasn't doing _anything_ to you." Draco snapped, but secretly laughing his knackers off.

Everyone stared at her.

"ARGH!" She grumbled, and then buried her head into the crook of her arm.

"I'm sorry, Miss Granger? Has Mister Malfoy done anything?" Professor McGonagall lowered her gaze at her.

"No, nothing Professor." She mumbled against her skin.

"Very well then, as you can see, you are to think of the animal you want to turn it into. You have to imagine every detail, and make sure that THAT is the one animal that you truly wish for it to transform into…." And Professor McGonagall went on, and on…

After Transfigurations, Hermione walked through the corridors with the usual, _"Nice look, Granger."_ Or just the flirty smirk from the boys.

Making her way to her next class, Potions, which was the only class she didn't have with either Ron or Harry. And unfortunately, she had with most of the dreaded Slytherins.

She was late, and she knew it. The hall was deserted for everyone was in their classes. _"Ginny and her stupid tribulations."_ She sighed, and just about she was to open the door to Potions; someone grabbed her from behind, locking her into a very unusual position. Two slender hands on each side of her arms, she was pressed against the wall, with her eyes shut closed. The body was in front of her, locking her into their current position.

"Oh, and I also wanted to ask you," a well-known voice started.

"Why the change?" he continued.

Her eyes snapped wide open, mouth hanging, and she was completely at loss for words. Draco Malfoy was practically seducing her for an answer, his hot breath now tickling into her ear, as his breathing became ragged.

"Once again, I ask." His lips just a few millimeters away from her ear.

"_Why the change?"_

She hadn't really thought of the real answer so far. Her answers were merely, _Coz I want to._ Or _Dunno, just felt like it._ But what was her _real_ answer?

"Why the change, Granger? Why go through all this? Are you trying to prove yourself? Is that why you're going through this? Might I remind you…"

His lips now touching her earlobe.

"You're Granger. Right now, you're doing and most likely looking like the example of your own worst nightmare… despite the fact that you know that you look damn good in it." He growled.

"Why are you so concerned of how I look, Malfoy?" She snapped, her breathing ragged, her lips parted slightly, and her chest rising and falling against his torso. Now that she realized it, their bodies were pinned together.

"Because I like it." He whispered, then slowly pulled away and left poor, confused Hermione against the wall, her chest heaving and staring at the direction of where Malfoy went… Completely forgetting about class… Completely forgetting about everything else but his four words, _**"Because I like it."**_

**A/N: Please review. It would mean so much to me if you do... and I'll update faster? -grin-**


	4. Too Much Thinking

**Turning of the Tides**

**A/N: **I'm so happy that I've got reviews (more than ten)! Please keep them coming. I feel so inspired. –grin- Oh and for that _anonymous _reviewer out there who just so happened to flame me, I'm still glad you gave a review. It just shows your interest for the story, yes?

**Chapter four****: Too Much Thinking (is bad for the health)**

"_You're Hermione Granger. Right now, you're doing and most likely looking like the example of your own worst nightmare. Despite the fact that you know that you look damn good in it." He growled in a low voice, his hot breath tickling my ear._

"_Why concerned of how I look, Malfoy?" I snapped at him, despite the actuality that our bodies were pinned together and my chest was heaving._

_Then he said it, "__Because I like it."_

_Four words… Four words made it sure that I forgot everything around me except those four words itself… _

_How he pinned his body against mine… how his hot breath lingered into my ear as he pulled away abruptly, leaving me confused, and overall… Not mindful of my surroundings._

_And merely those four words echoing through my head, playing it over and over again like a broken recorder…_

I have completely forgotten about Potions that day and spent time up in the Astronomy Tower, pondering on those four words.

_How can four bloody words mess up my mind so much?!_

"**Because I like it"** - nothing else needed to be said. It was meant to be precise and clear. But it was not clear enough for me to understand.

I felt disgusted, my mind was filled with Draco Malfoy, and I couldn't get myself to think of anything else.

Right now, the floor was hard and cold.

And right now, I could probably care less.

I was mental. I was turning mental.

_Completely mental._

_Am I thinking too much?_

_Am I overreacting? It's not like he meant anything by it.__ He was merely fooling around… It could even be a bet…_

"Hermione?" A voice called out to me, my heart skipped a beat.

"Are you okay?" I couldn't reply; my voice wouldn't let me speak.

Harry's head suddenly appeared out of nowhere, obviously wearing the Invisibility Cloak.

Was he there the whole time? Was he watching me while I banged my head on the wall senselessly as I thought of a simple explanation of Draco Malfoy's actions?

A cold hand crept up to my cheek and suddenly, I felt my chin being tilted up.

"'arry?" My voice croaked.

"Are you okay? We didn't see you in potions. Snape was furious." He sighed and he reduced the size of his cloak then stuffed it in his pocket.

"Yeah. I had to do things. Important errands."

_Partial lie._

"Oh. Do you want me to bring you to Madam Pomfrey? Ron's worried as well." Harry frowned, slight creases on his forehead were showing and his eyebrows were furrowing.

_Ron's worried?_

**(Normal P.O.V.)**

"No. It's just stress." Hermione replied and forced a smile as Harry pulled her up from the cold floor.

"Hey, is there anything bothering you?" Harry's fingers suddenly found their way up and down her cheek. Batting his fingers away gently, she replied, "No. Nothing is wrong."

"Okay then… I wanted to tell you that Slytherin and Gryffindor are having a pre-game tomorrow. More like a practice game - but nonetheless, a game." He grinned.

"Yeah. I'm playing as the keeper." Ron smiled, holding a stack of parchment in his arms from the door.

"What's all that?" she asked Ron, still eyeing the bunch of parchment in his hands. He looked quite uncomfortable.

"Your homework: From yours truly, Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall." Ron mumbled angrily as he tried his best to keep the parchments in place.

Hermione quickly grabbed her wand and levitated the parchments in the air, freeing Ron from his 'torture'.

She reduced the size of the parchments and soon the parchments found themselves inside her robe.

"Thanks, Ron." She stared into his blue eyes then quickly looked away.

"I… I have to go." She took her hand away from Harry's and made her way to the door, brushing Ron's shoulder by accident.

Making her way to her dorm, she spotted a dark haired girl snogging with a tall, blonde boy a few inches away from the door. Snogging as if their lives were depended on it.

"_Ugh. Malfoy and Parvati."_ She wrinkled her nose and went inside her room.

Her bed was soft and feels just like home. The scent of Harry lingered onto her bed sheets and to her pillows… _The scent of faint musk._ She smiled.

Sighing softly, her chest rising and falling, the cold air infiltrating her nostrils…

"_Because he liked it…" _Saying that line quietly over and over again until she fell asleep.

Hermione woke up, late in the afternoon from a horrid nightmare. It was her COMPLETELY missing all her classes. May Merlin forbid: **'McGonagall's gonna have her head on a silver platter.'**

And when she come to her senses, she'd realised that she missed Transfigurations, Potions, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, DADA, and Charms altogether... Good Lord, may she live up to the date that she'd finish reading that diary.

_Speaking of that diary…_ She reached down under the bed to pull out the invisible diary she was keeping.

_Where is it?!_ She panicked. It couldn't be found anywhere.

_There it is!_ She reached out to grab on a book.

Pulling it out slowly, she put it under her blanket and looked around to see if anyone was there. Finally trusting herself to unveil the book, she reached out to her wand and cancelled the invisibility spell on the book, revealing a rather big, green, leather bound book.

Widening her eyes, when she was just about to read the next entry, she realized that she was to not read it without Malfoy. She had almost forgotten about how she was supposed to read the book to him.

Grumbling, she stared at the book and cast an Invisibility Spell on it, and shoved it back under her bed, then sighed angrily.

She stood up from her bed; the life size mirror on the wall reflected her current image: Her clothes all wrinkled up, her blouse had creases on it, and her hair showed complete bed-headedness.

Casting a spell on herself to straighten up, she made way to the Great Hall for dinner.

She did not bother to wear her robes. It was only dinner, after all. But it would cause another great stir of: _Why is Miss Goodie-two-shoes, Hermione Granger, not wearing her proper uniform? Is she trying to get more attention?_

Letting out another heavy sigh, she opened the Great Hall's Great Door.

Heads snapped to her direction as she slowly walked her way towards the Gryffindor Table, casually meeting eyes with Blaise Zabini who smirked at her, and Draco Malfoy who was far away from Blaise, but she quickly looked away when she grasped she had did so.

_Look away. Don't meet with the stares, they'll just__ try intimidate you…_

"Hermione! Over here!" She heard Ginny's loud voice through the sniggering crowd behind her.

Taking a seat beside the red haired girl, she heard Neville's weary voice saying, "Hermione! All the teachers from your classes were furious that you didn't go to class today. They kept demanding _us_ for explanations!"

Another voice emanated from Neville's side saying, "Yeah, what Neville said. But what I'm more interested in is this rumour I've heard about you and Draco getting it on outside Potions class?" Yes, you guessed right. It was Seamus Finnigan.

"What? Where on earth did you hear that _garbage_?!" Hermione growled, flushing angrily at the fact that people are talking about Malfoy and herself that way.

"My questions and your answers are only needed in this conversation, my dear." Seamus wiggled his eyebrows at her and smirked.

Parvati suddenly piped in with her angry screeching voice saying, "What's this about you and Draco I hear, _Granger?_"

_**GRANGER?**_

"Hermione? Is it true?" Ron asked grimly and she saw Harry staring her down.

"ENOUGH!" She stood up from her chair, making screeching noises as it scraped against the cold floor as it was pushed back, then she slammed her fist onto the table and continued, "NO! I WAS NOT GETTING IT **ON** WITH DRACO MALFOY NOR WILL I EVER GET IT ON WITH HIM! YOU PEOPLE ARE ACTING RIDICULOUS!"

A couple of stares landed on her. Okay, all the stares landed on her – including Draco bloody Malfoy's.

Grumbling angrily, she pulled back the chair in fury, again making screeching noises as she did so.

"_A million galleon question."___She heard a voice ring inside her mind.

"_Oh not now… Anytime else BUT now…" _She thought to herself which apparently Draco can hear.

And just then, everything just fell completely silent. No voices in her mind, just hers. That point, she fell peaceful and quiet.

Next morning came and she woke up to find a snowy looking out tapping its beak on her window. It was Hedwig, and moreover, she had a small piece of parchment attached to her leg.

Yawning slightly, she opened her window and let in the beautiful white owl into her table, shaking her feathers hastily and shuddering, then dug her beak into her wing.

Hermione opened the parchment and smiled as she read it:

_**Herm**__**ione,**_

_**We have a game today against Slytherin. And I really want you to watch me kick their arse today. So will you promise me you'll watch our match this afternoon? Owl me as soon as you finish reading this.**_

_**Hope to see you later,**_

_**Harry**_

Raising her eyebrow, she chuckled, "Cheese?" then she shook her head and grabbed a piece of parchment and an overused quill then started scribbling:

_**Harry,**_

_**I'll be watching later soon after I finish all my homework and write excuse letters to the Professors.**_

_**Will surely see you later,**_

_**Hermione**_

She tapped on Hedwig softly and grinned at her and whispered, "Will you bring this to Harry for me? I'm sure he'll let you rest there."

Hedwig merely cocked her head to the right and let Hermione tie the parchment onto her leg.

She opened the window once again, and let the snowy owl fly freely.

The time was currently 6:20 am. Plenty of time for her to have a big breakfast. After all, she had to do a lot of errands today, and she only had a few bites of potatoes for dinner.

She stepped into the shower, letting the steam fill up the bathroom.

After her bath, she had dried herself up with a mere spell and put her hair up gracefully into a beautiful braid, wavy strands of hair falling into her face. Brushing it away, she Accio'd her clothing and quickly slipped into her clothes.

She checked every side of her in the mirror and flashed a conceited smile at the mirror then smirked.

Meeting a few glares from her fellow students, she twitched the side of her lips and sat down away from Parvati whose eyes currently shooting her daggers. Ginny had made herself early as well today. Not that she doesn't, normally.

"Hey." Hermione greeted.

"Mornin' to you too, class-ditcher." Ginny beamed cheekily.

"_Class ditcher_?! What did you mean by that?! I was… _sick!_" She grunted and started stuffing her plate with potatoes, bacon, eggs, then pouring herself some milk.

"Sick? Sure, Hermione." Ginny smirked and stood up from her seat.

"Where are you going?" Hermione looked up to Ginny.

"Off to see Dean. He's taking me to Hogsmeade to buy new quills." Ginny flipped her red hair, and shrugged.

"Alright." Hermione mumbled back, not even motioning to look at Ginny's direction once again.

An owl came in, this time, most definitely not Harry's. It was Pigwidgeon bringing a rather large parcel and a small roll of parchment tied to her leg.

Pigwidgeon had dropped the parchment, but not the parcel. It headed straight to the astronomy tower. _Probably more cheese. _She chuckled.

Opening the scroll it wrote:

_**Glad to hear that you're going. -Harry**_

She looked up to see a certain Harry Potter grinning widely at her and beside him was a grimacing Ronald Weasley.

"Morning." Hermione greeted as she was just about to finish her meal.

"Morning to you too." Harry smiled back.

"I heard you ditched classes for the whole day. Is that true?" _Good morning to you too, Ron._

Hermione pursed her lips and said, "I was sick, Ron."

"But that's not what Parva-" But was cut by Hermione's dangerous voice,

"So what else did that _tart_ say?"

"Calm down, Mione. Ron was just asking." Harry's grin turned upside down.

"I was sick, Ronald. And that is all I need to tell you." She stood up from her chair, and this time, she didn't attract too much attention.

"Are you gonna be there this afternoon?" Harry grabbed her hand to make her face him.

"Yeah. Good luck Harry, …Ron." She then left the room at a pace.

"_Must to homework and excuse letters… I have to get a lot of parchment… and ink to go along too…"_

Hermione started biting onto her nails, she was panicking.

"_So much to do… study, homework, excuse letters, game to watch__._

Just then, she saw Blaise Zabini with the same blonde haired girl that he eats with and sits with all the time.

She shrugged and went inside the head common room to gather her materials for the day.

The Slytherin's head boy room was just right there… A few meters away from her room. …Which was the solid main reason _why_ she hated being the Head Girl.

Because Draco Malfoy was Head Boy for Slytherin. At least Dean was a prefect. _But Dean's just as good as a prat as Ron._ She groaned.

Flicking her wand at the parchments and the ink bottles, it followed her as she made her way to the bloody Gryffindor Common room. She needed help after all. Okay, maybe not, but company would be nice.

In the end, she had ended up with Neville helping him on some transfigurations homework. Believe it or not, he really did understand that lesson – about changing an animal's eye colour.

So far, Hermione had finished all her excuse letters explaining why she was not present in class, finished all her potions homework, transfigurations homework, and a foot long essay on Dementors. Now she was just to practice the eye-colour alteration spell for transfigurations.

"Hermione, it's really very simple. It's just like this!" He executed a simple eye-colour alteration spell on Trevor, his toad.

"Oh. Um. Yeah, right." She half nodded, half groaned.

"Hermione you're not doing it right!" Neville scolded.

"Neville, you're pushing it." Her lips pursed as she continued to tap the tip of her wand on the table.

"Oh, yea. Right. Sorry." He chuckled nervously and cast a quick tempus- it was 2:38 pm.

Harry's game was at 3. She had 22 minutes till the game but she still needed to drop the letters and homework to her teachers.

"Hey Neville, let's continue this some other time. I have to run and do last minute errands, alright?"

She stood up, gathered her things, and headed to the door, leaving poor Neville behind saying, "Alright! If you need any help you can always ask me!"

_Sure, Neville. If I ever needed to pull my grades down, I'll surely call you._ She smirked.

She had left the homework and letter in Professor McGonagall's table where an unusual looking parrot kept repeating, "Blowjob." Hermione's eyes literally bulged out when she heard the bird saying it.

Professor Snape on the other hand certainly surprised her. He merely stared at her and resumed to his paper checking without a word when she left her homework along with the excuse letter.

Sighing in relief, as she finally finished passing all the homework and letters, she made her way to the quidditch pitch where she saw Malfoy and Harry arguing.

"No! _We _practice first!" Harry groaned.

"NO! WEEE PRACTICE FIIIIIRST!" Malfoy teased.

Rolling her eyes in annoyance, she stomped her way to the bickering boys who were just about to sock each other in the faces.

"PFFFT!" She whistled loudly, and all eyes were on her.

"Hermione?"

"Mudblood?" She cringed at the word, but managed to stay firm.

"NO PRACTICE NEEDED. THIS IS A PRACTICE GAME AFTER ALL, RIGHT?" She nodded, and motioned for everyone to nod with her.

Apparently, everyone _did_ agree with her. "Yeah." Blaise said from behind, and everyone else in Slytherin and Gryffindor nodded their heads in agreement, while the two captains bickered their way to the Quidditch pitch to play 'ball'. In this case, play 'balls'.

Hermione took a seat on one of the bleachers, and surprisingly, beside her was Blaise Zabini.

"Hey." She heard from him.

"Oh." She replied. _Pathetic._

He chuckled, "So. What brings you here on this fine afternoon?"

"Don't I have rights to watch my friends play their most beloved sport? And why aren't _you_ out there?" Hermione retorted.

"Yes, indeed you do have all rights… And let's just say that I'm not fit to play a game today. So, what's with the attitude?" He raised both his eyebrows at her.

Hermione shook her head and said nothing for the next few minutes.

Suddenly, a flashback of Malfoy appeared inside her mind. She shook her head.

"Hey Blaise?" Hermione said quietly.

"Yeah?" He faced towards her direction, making her blush slightly.

"Um. Can I ask you about something?" She bit her lip, and twiddled with her fingers.

"Is it about Malfoy?" Blaise teased, but didn't really realize that he guessed it right.

Hermione's eyes widened.

"How did you know?"

"I didn't." Blaise shrugged and his eyes still on the game.

**Hermione stood silent just then… thinking of what to say next.**

Just before she even had the chance to say anything…

"Care to tell me what happened? Oh, and I don't think Malfoy would just shag you then and there. After all, you're still _Granger_ and you're still ever such a prude."

"PRUDE?! I'll let you know—" But was cut again by the inevitable Blaise Zabini.

"You think your new and improved clothing line makes you not a prude? Don't make me laugh. And what I meant was that I'm pretty sure you still have your decency not to let anyone like him touch you."

"Then let me tell you what _really_ happened…" Hermione said calmly.

"…Then he said, **"Because I like it" **into my ear, and by the way our bodies were pressed, we looked like we were starting a scandal or something!" Hermione exclaimed in her seat, now completely ignoring the quidditch game and currently engrossed in her conversation with Blaise.

"Well, this is Malfoy we're talking about. He can be a bit odd at times, but he's just messin' with you. So my advice is: just leave it alone and stop thinking about it." Blaise chuckled and he slightly patted Hermione on the back.

"But the way he said it! And he looked dead serious and he practically COMPLIMENTED me. HIM! Draco Malfoy _complimenting_ Hermione Granger!" She looked weary and completely confused.

"Well, Granger. Malfoy can be really frank at times. Don't you think you should just accept the fact that he complimented you?" Blaise sighed; he couldn't concentrate on watching the game since Hermione kept babbling about her 'problem' which Blaise sees nothing of.

"But WHY did he say it? WHAT FOR?! _You _know Malfoy really well. I'm sure you can explain why he complimented me. Or maybe it could be just a joke. Or even a bet maybe…"

"_Hermione…_" Blaise started, and she stopped talking; now completely listening to him. His voice was serious now. "Shouldn't you of all people be able to guess that? After all, you're so smart then you could easily figure this out for yourself. I guess Malfoy was right. All that time in the library didn't teach you too much." Blaise sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"B-" once again, cut by Blaise bloody Zabini.

"There's nothing to be explained, Granger. He said it as it is. Precise and clear. _Because he liked it_."

"…" He made complete and total sense.

_**At that very moment, Hermione Granger has learned the art of shutting up.**_

"I'm leaving." She stood up from the bleachers, not even bothering to look at Blaise's (most probably) smirking face.

"You won't finish the game?" She heard Blaise call out.

"No, isn't it obvious enough?" She replied sternly, but not motioning to turn around.

When no answer was heard, she continued walking back to her dorm, now even more confused of herself.

No, she wasn't confused about Malfoy's comment; she was confused of his _actions_.

If he didn't say it like that, then things would have been alright for her. She wouldn't have overreacted like what she was doing right now… everything would have been fine if his lips didn't touch her ear or if his chest wasn't dangerously close to hers… But he did…

She sighed and turned the knob of her door slowly, gritting her teeth at her behavior. She was overreacting.

For the second time this day, she had entered her room sighing deeply, deep in thought.

Sighing once again, she walked over to her bed and crouched down to grab hold of the invisible green book under her bed.

"Gotcha." She smiled and quickly cancelled he invisibility spell endowed on it.

"_I don't think the ferret would mind me reading just one page, right?"_ She chuckled then opened it to the page where they had last left it.

_**May 23**__**rd**__**, Thursday**_

_**Haven't been writing down much, have I? Well, it's because Wenny's been avoiding me all week. It's driving me crazy. I mean, aside from that bloody hair incident, (she grew her hair back the next day) I don't remember me doing anything at all! So how impossible could this get? Well… There is one thing that did happen… Um, let me write it down.**_

_**Rowena grew her hair back at May 20**__**th**__**. (Monday-day after that) She had also learned the art of "not buttoning every bloody button present in your shirt" which turned me on quite heavily. WHAT?! I'm a boy with raging hormones for goodness sake! So the other day, May 21**__**st**__**, I decided to make her feel good by complimenting her on her looks. So what I did was: I cornered her in the DADA classroom, when everyone else left and Wenny and I were left in the classroom since we were finishing our homework for DADA. (I didn't get to finish it, so she was helping me.)**_

_**When no one else was in the room, I pushed her up the wall and put my knee in between her legs making them part slightly (**__**where I heard her either groaned or moan. I can't really tell.) I whispered into her ear, "You look bloody great." And she merely stared at me in horror, not daring to move a muscle. Then all of a sudden, it was as if she had an amazing jolt of energy, she pushed me back hard enough to make me lose my balance and position. That woman can push… I wonder how good she is in bed. HAHAHA! Okay, dirty thoughts, dirty thoughts… But seriously, what was wrong with that? All the girls like it when I do that, I mean, I didn't even touch her! ARGH! Well, knowing Wenny, she would most probably slap me or something, but what she did was push me back, not say anything, and run. **_

_**Nevertheles**__**s, I've got to do homework since she's not here to help me at all…**_

_**Sigh,**_

_**Zar**_

"_But… that sounds just like…" _Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard two familiar voices calling out for her. Harry and Ron's.

"Hermione? 'Mione?" Harry called out.

"Where were you?" Ron's agitated voice emanated from afar.

_I have to hide this!_

Panicking, she quickly hid the book under her blanket, and said, "I'm here."

Ron and Harry appeared in sight.

"Slytherin beat us today. Probably some bad luck on our side." Ron shrugged.

"Yeah, well. Where were you? You left after the second half of the game and Ron kept calling out for you which made him lose his concentration… NOT that we blame you or anything… We were just curious." Harry eyed her, and the blanket. Apparently, he had noticed the rather large lump under the covers, and so did Ron.

"Hey? What's that?" Ron pointed at the huge lump.

"Oh. It's just a book. Yeah. A book." She grinned.

"And I got… bored. Sorry, Quidditch just isn't my thing, you know?" Hermione excused herself.

The two boys looked at each other, then shrugged.

"Okay then. We'll leave you and your… _book_ alone." Ron said quietly, pulling Harry from behind and shifted for the door.

She stared at their backs and sighed in relief.

Once again, another deep sigh let out by Hermione Granger.

She cast an invisibility spell on the book once she heard the door slam shut.

_It can't stay here. Malfoy has to keep it. Oh Merlin, Malfoy again… I have to give it back.__ It can't stay here, not at all._

Standing up, she paced for the door and shoved the book inside her robe, not caring whether she made an awfully weird bump protruding from her chest to her abdomen.

Once she had reached Malfoy's room, she banged her fist on the door again and again, then all of a sudden; it opened, revealing a half naked Malfoy only his pants to cover him. He wasn't wearing a top at all.

"Draco, you're taking really long. Who's in there?" She heard Parvati's voice whine, and Hermione cringed.

"What's your damage, Mudblood? I was in the middle of a very important conversation." Draco snarled.

She froze. This wasn't the same Draco that she had met yesterday… This was the same exact person who tortured her throughout her years in Hogwarts… This was_ the_ Draco Malfoy.

"Here's the book. I don't want it." She took the book from inside her robe, and viciously handed it to him with a glare.

He scowled, "But _you_ were meant to keep it. Not me. YOU said you would."

"I JUST CAN'T! HARRY AND RON HAS A BLOODY 200% CHANCE TO FIND OUT ABOUT THAT BOOK AND RIGHT NOW, I DON'T WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT, OKAY?!" She retorted in fury. Just like the old, snappy Hermione Granger.

"Alright." He gritted his teeth and grasped onto the book.

"Stop bitching off all the time. Not everyone can take it, you tart." Draco snapped an insult.

_TART?!?! TAAAAAART?!?_ She growled inside her head.

"DONT YOU DARE CALL ME A TART. YOU KNOW WHAT A TART IS?! THAT GIRL, PARVATI PATIL INSIDE YOUR ROOM WITH HER LEGS SPREAD WIDE OPEN IS A **TART**! SO I WONT HAVE YOU CALLING ME NAMES THAT CONTRADICT WITH MY NAME! HAVE A GOOD SHAG, YOU BLOODY BASTARD!" She yelled, and stomped her way back to her room, slamming her door shut. Not even caring how Draco had reacted.

The slam of her door made the floors vibrate and the sound of the slam echoed through the dungeons.

"Bloody Witch. What the hell is wrong with her now?!" Draco grumbled.

"_Great. Now I can't read it without her. __Fuck. Why must life be so bloody fucking hard?"_ Malfoy snarled inside his brain.

Leaving the topic behind, he cast a quick invisibility spell on the book then resumed to his… personal affairs.

"WELL HE CAN BLOODY WELL SHAG PARVATI TILL THE END OF BLOODY TIME! BECAUSE I AM NOT THINKING OF HIM ANYMORE!" She screamed.

_I was… Thinking of him? No, no, no… I was thinking about his ACTIONS. Not him._

Digging her nails onto her skin, she growled in fury, slowly rocking herself to a possible good night's sleep.

**A/N: **My, she seems to be such a temperamental witch. REVIEWS PLEASE! –grin grin grin-


	5. Complicated

**Turning of the Tides**

**A/N: **Once again, I must thank you, my beloved reader for taking patience with the _unbelievable_ Hermione I've created. Nonetheless, I'm having so much fun revising this old story of mine, and I'm very glad to see that you are enjoying this.

I've also noticed that Hermione repeats the word, _bloody _a lot—which is, in British terms, a bit off for a lady. I'd be fixing that. Perhaps a scene wherein Draco/Blaise (whoever) would tell her off due to her language.

**Chapter five: Complicated**

After that good, long sleep that night with the squabble with Draco, Hermione hadn't been granted decent sleep the following days. She kept waking up almost every hour, longing for the book.

Feeling groggier than ever, Hermione made way to the head's common room which was a first since she never really went out of her room much.

**(Just so you know: Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor prefects along with the Head Boys and Girls are all sharing one vast common room. Which explains why she didn't want to get out of her room: Malfoy's sharing dorms with her.)**

She plopped down on the couch, her heavy-lidded eyes begging for rest, and she groaned. "Need. Sleep." Rubbing her palm onto her forehead, she sighed in frustration.

Footsteps came from the door and headed towards her. She turned her head to its direction and raised both eyebrows at the boy; it was Dean Thomas, prefect of Gryfindor.

"Hello, Hermione." He grinned and took a seat beside her.

"Lo." She greeted back plaintively.

"What's up? You don't look too good. Woke up on the other side of the bed?"

"Lacking sleep, actually." She replied lazily, resting her chin onto her palm.

"Oh? Why so? Is school work finally getting to you?" Dean joked, but apparently, Hermione didn't find this funny.

She paused for a while, pondering on the reasons of her lack of sleep, and concluded that Malfoy must have been trying to barge into her head while sleeping.

_Yes, that's got to be it._

Right now, she needed anything, anything to prove to herself that she wasn't thinking of _anything related to him._

"Yeah, school work." She replied flatly.

"I see. Did you hear about the upcoming ball?" Dean asked her in a light, conversational voice.

"Everyone's heard about it, Thomas. Who wouldn't?" She now rested her forehead onto her clenched fist.

"Is anyone taking you?" Dean asked quietly.

"No, I don't think I even _am_ going." She replied in a hint of annoyance.

"Oh… I see. S-" He was shortly cut by a large slam of the door coming from Draco Malfoy; an angry looking Draco Malfoy.

"What's bloody wrong with you?! Are you trying to break this common room down?!" Dean and Hermione heard a certain Ceri Blackheart, a Ravenclaw prefect, from the stairs.

Draco simply shrugged and rolled her eyes at the girl. A few moments later, Ceri had left the room.

"My, my, my… Look who's gone out… Granger the bat who never comes out her cave has finally graced us with her filthy presence." Draco sniggered.

Hermione said nothing; she rested her head onto the arm of the couch and brought her feet up to occupy all the remaining space, then pretended to not hear Draco at all.

"So Dean how's school working out for you?" She asked him casually, still ignoring Draco.

"Everything's fine… Double Potions is the worst, but I'm still living." Dean replied, taking Hermione's hint and ignoring Draco at his best.

Draco tapped his foot impatiently on the floor and asked, "Anyone going to ask _me_ how **my** day was?"

"Not interested." Hermione replied in boredom, looking at her nails and blowing at it for some reason. Dean, on the other hand, merely shrugged.

"I'll tell you anyway. Actually, Snape made me clean up this utterly ridiculous mess that I accidentally made. _Slug slime ugh_. Not to mention that cleaning after my own mess was supposed to be House Elves' work! So after that…" But he stopped talking when he noticed that Hermione motioned for her room.

"Where are you going, Granger? I wasn't done talking." Draco hissed and grabbed her arm.

"I don't really care." She retorted, as she tugged onto her arm, forcibly trying to take her arm back.

"Well, you _will._ And you _should._" Draco's eyes darkened at her.

Dean on the other hand stood up from the couch and sighed in frustration, "I'll leave you both here. Things may get _nasty_ and I intend not to be part of this."

"Dean, wait." Hermione gasped as Draco's grasp had gotten tighter on her.

"Yeah?" Dean eyed her.

"Just give me a minute, and let's go to the Great Hall together." She tugged on her arm.

"Alri-"

"Leave, _Thomas._ Before things **do** get quite… 'nasty'." Draco snarled at him, Hermione's hand still on Draco's death grip.

"Dean, I'll be with you if you just wait for a few m—" Hermione eyes pleaded.

"Um, sorry, Hermione, I _really_ must be going." Dean left for the door without another word.

"Dean, wait!" She cried out as she tried even harder to get away from Draco's grip, but he merely stood there as if he was holding back a little child calmly with little efforts into not letting her get away.

"Well?" She asked out of utter annoyance.

"What is it? What was so important that you purposely made Dean leave me alone with you?" She growled, staring at his foggy, grey eyes.

_**Chill out whatcha yelling' for?**_

""What do you want from me? You've already done everything to make me hate your enough for the rest of your life. Insulting me, making rumours about me, and you even intend to take away my friends from me?" She shouted at him, he merely stared at her and held onto her arm as her shouts and growls roared across the room.

_  
__**Lay back it's all been done before**_

"Let go of me, Malfoy."

_  
__**And if you could only let it be you will see**_

"What, now you're not talking? What's your damage?"

_  
__**I like you the way you are…**_

Just then… Malfoy's mind fell blank… Lyrics from a muggle song was ringing through his head as he watched Hermione just scream her heart at him.

_  
__**When we're drivin' in your car and you're talking to me one on one but you've become...**_

_She changed too much now…_

_**Somebody else **__**'round everyone else**_

This wasn't the old Hermione Granger that he just absolutely loved to tease. She wasn't vulnerable and weak. This new Granger was so much fiercer… But so much more insecure…

_**  
You're watching your back like you can't relax**_

He's listened to her thoughts in silence every once in a while. It always consisted of how scared she was of what others would think of her. And now she changed her looks for the crowd. To make _them_ accept her…

_  
__**You're tryin' to be cool you look like a fool to me**_

But she's a fool. She didn't know that if she really wanted change, she not only needed to change how she looked… but mostly everything about her… Well that's what he thought anyway…

"What, you can speak ill names of me, but when in times like these, you just remain silent? Talk to me!"

_**  
Tell me!**_

"Is it so hard to speak? Are you listening to my thoughts? Have you been mocking me? So you know that you've been constantly running inside my mind. You think that's funny? You think it's funny that I have to get my mind preoccupied with somebody like you?"

_**Why you have to go and make things so complicated?**_

_What did she mean? Was it the time I called her a tart?__ Did that affect her so much?_

"SAY SOMETHING!!" She shouted.

_**  
I see the way you're acting like you're somebody else gets me frustrated!**_

"Granger…" He said quietly.

_**Life's like this you…**_

"What?" She replied angrily, tears streaming down her face.

_**  
And you fall and you crawl and you break**_

"Why are you crying?" He asked her in a calm voice.

"Is it because I called you a tart?" He added.

_**  
And you take what you get and you turn it into honesty**_

She shook her head and said in a quiet voice, though the fury still audible, "I'm used to that."

_**  
And promise me I'm never gonna find you fake it…**_

"I'm s—" He couldn't say it, he just couldn't apologise. He released her arm, and took a few steps back from her.

_**No… no… no…**_

He turned around, leaving a confused Hermione behind who was nursing her arm. If she wasn't mistaken, _he nearly apologised_, but couldn't... obviously.

Meanwhile, Draco found himself walking along the lakeside, deep in thought.

"_I __nearly apologised to her… Oh Merlin. First it was that sudden compliment then an almost-apology. Am I getting soft?! No… NO! Malfoys never get soft!" _Draco scoffed.

He ran his fingers through his tousled blonde hair and pursed his lips in thought. "But what exactly _did_ I try to apologise for?" He said loudly.

Shaking his head in disagreement, he walked on the freshly cut grass and rolled his eyes at the sight of the glittering reflection coming from the lake.

He kicked the pebbles that were in his way. Dragging his feet to wherever his feet desired.

"_This is just__ awful. First she's confused then now she left me even MORE confused. _

_But she didn't really do anything, did she? I confused myself because I apologised for no bloody reason!" He argued with himself._

"_**Yes but she said something that made you **__**apologise."**__ He heard a little voice inside him say._

"_I didn't apologise, not entirely, no. And who are you to tell me that? Stop confusing me! I'm already confused as it is!" He groaned._

"_**What if you never have the **__**nerve to talk to her? No, what if she avoids you forever? Then that would mean no one to tease and no one to translate the book to you."**__ The voice asked calmly._

"_I can always hire professionals, right?" He asked the voice._

"_**But will you trust them as much as you trusted **__**Hermione**__**?"**_

"_Don't call her that. It's Granger to me __**and**__ you! Whoever you are…" He grumbled._

"_**Well, I **__**am**__** you. I am your… 'Jiminy Cricket' or your… conscience."**__ The voice said politely._

"_Who in the bloody world is Jiminy Cricket? You're a cricket? What the?" Draco's eyes widened in shock._

"_**No. Honestly, are you that daft? No wonder **__**Hermione**__** despises you. You're too stupid to even begin with!"**_

"_Shut the bloody hell up and stick a broom up your arse while you're at it." He pursed his lips in annoyance, and folded his arms across his chest._

"_**Alright then. But if you need advice, or some help in choosing the right decision, I'm here deep inside you."**__ The voice said in a sing-song voice._

Just then, Draco looked down at his pants and gasped, "YOU'RE MY CONSCIENCE?!" His eyes shot wide, and his mouth fell in aghast.

"_**You real**__**ly should start picking up a bit faster. It's a lady killer, literally."**__ The voice sighed inside his mind._

"JUST BLOODY GO AWAY!" He roared, loud enough for the birds to get terrified and fly away.

He looked around and said silently, "You there?"

Silence came, and for once in that day, Draco smiled contentedly to himself then gazed at the sun as it set.

Hermione stayed there in the common room after Draco left. She didn't dare to go back to her room or even outside the common room. Despite the fact that it was a Sunday and everyone was either outside or in Hogsmeade, but here she was, staying inside the common room. Alone.

She hadn't talked to Harry or Ron often. Maybe just a quick hello's or quick conversations during classes but other than that, she was extremely quiet and more to herself.

Although mostly around Harry and Ron during classes or during break times, she had been non-sociable and would just keep silent. Harry thought these were one of those 'weeks' that girls have in a month. Ron thought that Hermione was just being her usual self-concealed self.

But just a while ago, when Draco had _nearly _apologised_…_ She realised that she needed someone to talk to; someone who wouldn't overreact or put their own opinions at front.

Harry? No, Harry would just get even madder at Malfoy for putting her under a really deadly grip.

Ron? Please, even Neville's better than him.

Ginny? Good Lord, Ginny would just get angry at her. Okay, maybe not… But she'd most probably be annoyed at the fact that she had stumbled over Draco Malfoy in an awkward situation, not just once, but twice!

But then it came to her… Zabini! Blaise Zabini is the best person to talk to this about. He wasn't the best person to talk to about boys, but he was most certainly the best at the moment. Besides, he was a boy! Who would understand boys better than one himself? And the fact that he was nicer to her than all the other Slytherins was a plus.

She yawned and stood up from her seat, then walked to the bathroom. She needed a good freshening up before anything else. After all, her eyes weren't doing much of a job in keeping her awake.

She paused for a while and remembered what had happened. She cried back in the common room. Basically, she was confused, and angry, and… well… confused.

Sighing, she turned the faucet clockwise, cold water rushed through the faucet and onto her hands, letting the coldness of the water prick her warm skin.

But first she needed to know… Where would a nitwit like Blaise Zabini would be in an hour like this?

_Oh dear Merlin, spare her. She had no clue of where Blaise would be!_

All she was to do now was to look for him.

She let out yet again another frustrated sigh.

Draco on the other hand had left the lakeside and had gone back to the castle, kicking every pebble, every rock, even some of the grass that came in his way. He wasn't furious, he was just annoyed at himself for nearly apologising for something he wasn't even sure of. He just blurted it out subconsciously.

He ran a hand through his already messy blonde hair and grunted in confusion. His actions… Was it what Granger had been ranting about? Did he even care? He didn't, right? Of course not! So he decided to do the most sensible thing to do as of now… _ignore the whole incident_. Forget about it. It wasn't worth his precious time after all.

Hermione ran through the corridors, running towards the direction of the Slytherin dungeons, hoping that Blaise was in their common room.

She ran past Daphne Greengrass and said, "Excuse me, is Blaise Zabini in the common room?"

Surprisingly, the girl had answered _nicely_, "No, sorry but he's gone to the Quidditch pitch. Probably out to get some fresh air."

"Oh, uhm. I... thank you, I'll go there now." Hermione waved at the girl and hurried down to the pitch, hoping to see Blaise.

And indeed he was there, sitting on the bleachers with his chin resting onto his palm and obviously deep in thought.

"Blaise?" She called out quietly, but audible enough for Blaise to hear.

"Granger." Blaise nodded at her curtly.

"Hello." She smiled back.

"So, what brings you here?" He said in an awfully gentleman-like voice.

"Nothing much. Just some of this and that… You know…" She grinned.

"Something to ask again? Something to _share_?" He laughed.

"You know me all too well." She chuckled and made her way beside him where they sat.

"What's now so complicated that once again the great Hermione Granger cannot figure out?" He rested his cheek onto his fist.

"Well… Just now…"

Blaise listened to her and chuckled a few times as she told him the reason why she cried.

"You cried because of that?" He laughed, holding his stomach as he laughed even harder.

"Hey! I was under stress! And the emotions bottled up just there and I accidentally let it slip."

"More like let it _out_." He grinned and ran his fingers through his raven-black hair.

"Well, and yeah. After that, I think he wanted to say sorry. And he looked really serious. Or rather, he wasn't mocking me in any sort of way." She sighed and crossed her arms across her chest.

"AND! He was quiet all the time. Can you explain that?" She huffed and stuck her nose in the air.

"Well… I'm afraid that you were talking to another person. That sounds awfully not like Draco Malfoy… Or has he gotten soft?" He stroked his fingers under his chin and furrowed his eyebrows in thought.

"I swear to Merlin, that _was_ Malfoy!" She mumbled.

"Maybe he was just too caught up in YOUR emotions that he accidentally _almost _blurted out an apology?" Blaise said the only thing in his head as of the moment.

It was just all too odd. Draco getting soft on Hermione? On _her_ of all people? Yeah, Draco's a git, and he still is and will always be. One person's emotions cannot be enough to make Draco Malfoy apologise! That's just blasphemous.

He patted Hermione's back and said, "Honestly, he's just… caught up in his own problems. Best not think about it, mate."

"But Blaise!" She argued.

"Yes, Hermione?" He raised a brow and beamed.

"This is just all too weird." She sighed and slightly leaned her shoulders against his.

"Yeah… It is… even for me. And believe me, I've seen weird." He sighed.

"Anyway, are you and Malfoy still not talking?" She changed the subject slightly.

He paused, _how did she know about that?_

"How'd you know?" He looked into her eyes.

"Please, it's really obvious, really. I mean. Everyone's talking about how you and Draco socked each other hard in the common room the other week." She giggled.

"Then that must mean that I'm the talk of the town. Interesting." He smirked and slightly relaxed onto their current position, their shoulders resting against each other comfortably.

"Yes, well. Indeed you are." She grinned.

"Oh, and I would like to do the honours of asking the dear Lady Hermione, _Why the change_? - as they all ask." He had said this in an old English accent.

"Well… Change is good. I felt like it. Please tell me you're not going to try to force the answer out of me just like…" She stopped at that then cleared her throat.

"No, I'm more of a gentleman when it comes to girls, dear lady." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"I see. But what do I do now?"

"Well, just ignore it. Ignore everything that comes in your way. It's how the wind flows. Besides, it's not like you and Malfoy are friends anyway. So it wouldn't matter."

"But what if we are?"

Blaise looked incredulous and let out a loud _HA!_ "Granger, I should know if you actually are friends. And Malfoy wouldn't be interested in the likes of you. I mean, no offense taken."

"But why go to the resort of ignoring?" She frowned at Blaise's previous comment.

"Because… the time may come that he may appear weirder than he usually seems and start acting differently towards you… In other words, now that he's even had the urge to apologise to you, he may get a bit softer towards you and… you may even…" His voice trailed away.

"Even what?"

"Fall in love." He teased.

"Are you mental? I, for one, will _never_ fall in love with him. After all, there are much too many boys to choose from." She smirked.

_Really?_ His eyes brightened, and he appeared to be happier. "I see." Was all he said.

"So, I see you have a girlfriend? The blonde?" She had changed the subject.

"Oh you mean Clia? No! Bloody hell no!" He laughed. "She's a transferee from Beauxbatons and she seems to have been having a hard time speaking in English. Which is why I'm tutoring her."

"I see. She's from _what_ country, exactly?"

"France."

"Oh? You know how to speak French?"

"Yup."

"And how exactly did you learn how to speak in French?"

"My dear, how do you think I've survived Draco all these years?" He snorted.

"You mean… Draco Malfoy is part French?" Her eyes widened at the new knowledge.

"Isn't it obvious?" He sniggered.

"Yes, well call me daft if you must." She rolled her eyes at the snickering boy.

"Well now, shouldn't you be heading back to your common room to study?" he teased.

"Studying isn't my only hobby, you know." She snapped haughtily.

"Alright, alright. The stars are coming out soon." Blaise said quietly.

"Yeah…" She nodded curtly.

"Hey. Don't let him get to you. He may be just… be feeling sick. Or something…" Blaise scratched the back of his neck and chuckled.

"Thanks for the talk, Blaise. I'll get getting back now." She stood up and started walking down back to the castle.

"Hey, wait. I'll walk with you." Blaise took hold of her hand and smiled.

For a moment there, she blushed slightly but quickly shook it off.

"Alright." She squeezed his hand and beamed.

Realising that they were holding hands long enough, she quickly took her hand back and cleared her throat, "Ehm, we better get going. Time for dinner."

Walking like robots, they said nothing as they made their way to the Great Hall. A few chuckles here and there, but aside from that, nothing.

Just before Blaise opened the doors for the Great Hall, Hermione halted.

"What's wrong?" Blaise asked worriedly.

"No, nothing. Um. Yeah." She stuttered and pushed the doors, revealing a lot of students boring their eyes into them.

"_Why are they together?"_

"_Maybe it's just a coincidence."_

"_But at the same time?"_

"_Damn, that Zabini is lucky."_

"I'll be going now, bye." Hermione smiled at Blaise and he simply nodded.

Whispers erupted as they parted ways.

And far away from the Gryffindor table was a curious Draco Malfoy.

"_What are they __doing together?_" Draco thought.

"_**Maybe they had a chat?" **_That voice again. He groaned.

"_Just leave my thoughts alone." _He twitched.

"_**I **__**AM**__** part of your thoughts. I think. Well, I'm basically a part of you, so you can't do anything about it" **_The voice chuckled.

"_What is your name anyway?" Draco asked 'voice'._

"_**I'm you. I'm Draco. (sigh)" **_'voice' replied.

"_Can I call you Dragon or something else? You seem too… unworthy of my name. Besides. I'M Draco." _He snapped.

"_**Sure. Call me… Evan." **_Evan whistled.

"_Evan? Hideous name__." _Draco sighed.

"Draco? Are you okay? You're spacing out." Pansy's screeching voice asked him.

"Yes, Pansy. I'm _fine._" He rolled his eyes and started poking on his lamb chops.

"Do you not like the lamb chops?" Pansy asked him, putting her hand onto his shoulder and softly rubbing it in circles.

"Pansy, please. Your seductions will not be working on me right now." He massaged his temple.

Pansy took her hand away from Draco and snapped, "What's your damage?" Then stuck her nose up in the air.

From afar, Blaise could see Pansy annoying Draco again. He chuckled.

_Poor Malfoy. Even he doesn't deserve that._

"Ron! Give me that back!" She snarled at Ron who just took away her last piece of pumpkin tart.

"No. You're not eating." Ron gruffed.

_**Dinner**_

"Hey Hermione, what's up?" Harry smiled at her as he walked her to the head common room.

"Nothing much. Some homework… you know. Usual." She replied.

"Oh. I haven't heard from you much. You okay? Is there something bothering you?"

"No, everything's fine, Harry. Just stress from the school work and our upcoming N.E. you know how they can be."

"Oh… Um. Okay. School ball's coming up soon. Any plans?"

"No, don't think I'm going…" She shrugged.

"Oh."

"Anyway, Harry… Can I owl you? I'm really tired." She sighed.

"Okay…" Harry forced a smile.

"Here we are. Thanks for walking me, Harry." She kissed him lightly on the cheek and slipped inside the common room.

Harry stood there for a few moments, his fingers on his cheek to the spot where she had kissed him.

When Hermione came in, she saw Draco alone, the green book in his hands where he looked as if he was trying really hard to read it.

"Hey." She muffled.

Draco looked her way and said nothing. A few moments later, he went back to _reading_ the book.

"Are you just going to ignore me?" She sighed and sat away from him.

He shrugged, his eyes still glued to the book. She peered over to the page that he was reading on and chuckled.

"The book is upside down, you twit."

He put the book upside down, raised his eyebrows then nodded as if he could understand it better now.

"Though you still can't understand it, can you?"

He looked at her again and shook his head slowly.

"Do you want me to read it to you?"

He looked at her with pleading eyes and accidentally let out a small smile.

Chuckling at him, she walked over to sit beside him and grabbed the book from his hands and raised her eyebrows at the page that he was trying to read out.

"I read this the other day…" She frowned.

He looked at her, and right now, she couldn't make out _what_ he was trying to tell her.

"Anyway…" She read on.

"And that's what happened." She sighed.

"_**Hermione**_**,**" He finally spoke, and her head snapped to his direction as she realised that he just called her by her first name.

"Do I complicate things for you?" He asked her in a serious tone, staring at her, and waiting in anticipation as she tried to make out an answer.

Her eyes widened at him. She couldn't speak for some reason.

_She wanted to say __**yes**__, but… she just couldn't let an answer out._

_Did __**he**__ really make things complicated for her?_

_Or was it __**her**__ fault that things were just so complicated?_

**A/N: **Once again, I must defend Hermione for being so out-of-character. But I think it's about time to have a different view of Hermione, a different character, fresh yet still spunky.


	6. An Act of Sympathy

**Turning of the Tides**

**A/N: **They do **not** like each other yet. Everything is still in terms of getting to know each other and… friendship.

Sorry for the delay, and I do expect better reviews to come. After all, if you supply me with good reviews, then I'd supply you with better chapters. –grin-

**Chapter six: An Act of Sympathy**

_Hermione's P.O.V._

"_**Hermione**_**,"** _He called me… by my first name…_

_My heart was beating so fast… But at the same time, it felt like it just stopped._

"_**Do I complicate things for you?"**__ He asked me. His deep, grey eyes staring into mine, pulling me into a deep trance. Making me at loss for words._

_Does he? Does he complicate things for me? Or do I do that alone? Even without his help?_

_Draco's P.O.V._

_Did I just ask her that?_

_Course I did. If I didn't, she wouldn't be awfully quiet. Right?_

_Where is that bloody voice when you need it?_

"_**May I know the reason why you asked**__** the Mudblood that?" **__Oh there he is._

"_It's that bloody Muggle song! It's messing up my wits!"_

"_**Really? C'mon, honestly you wouldn't sink too low that you'd blame a mere song, now would you?" **__Well call me low as it's really, really messing up my head._

Suddenly, I felt her shift in her seat, now looking at me intently.

_That song came up again… ringing inside my head…_

_Normal P.O.V._

"It's hard to say…" She started.

_**Why do you have to go and make things so complicated?**_

_**  
**_"Yeah, you complicate a lot of things for me." She looked at the book rested on her lap, stroking the fine leather in circles.

_**I see the way you're acting like you're somebody else gets me frustrated**_

"But it got me thinking…" She now looked into his eyes, her almond-brown ones to his silvery-grey ones.

_**Life's like this you**__**...**_

"What did you do to make it so complicated?" Her voice low and deep in thought.

_**  
And you fall and you crawl and you break**_

"Was it you? Or was it me? Who made things complicated? Was I thinking too much about this?" She sighed and leaned against the armrest.

_**  
…and you take what you get and you turn it into honesty**_

"Was it because of the many names you called me? Was it because of the many taunts and threats you said to me? Or did it just get complicated at the point when you told me… that you liked 'it'?" She sighed.

_**  
and promise me I'm never gonna find you fake it…**_

"But now… I realized that it was my fault all along those things was so complicated. This was your nature. To taunt, tease, humiliate, annoy and aggravate people like me. I was just thinking about it too much." She continued. Malfoy was staring at her, listening to every word she was saying.

"On the other hand, without you saying those, maybe I could be a bit saner and stop the thinking for a few good hours and just relax. But no, that isn't how life is s'posed to be. Life isn't a fairytale with just rainbows and butterflies; it has to have a flaw. That flaw is you. The flaw that helps in making things complicated for Hermione Granger."

_**  
…no no no**_

Draco's mouth nearly fell to the floor. Hermione sure can talk. Although he was already bracing himself for a long speech. But this was… okay, this was all right.

"Relax, Granger." He chuckled, his ego slowly making its way to the top once again.

"I merely asked for a yes or no answer." He shrugged, and his sentence made her blush in embarrassment.

"Was that a yes? Or a no?" He raised a brow at her.

"You seem much more like a normal person now. Well, it's both. Yeah, in a way, and not the main reason, though. Why everything's complicated." She sighed.

"Have you been listening to Muggle music?" She eyed him.

Turning slightly red, he stuck his nose in the air and huffed. "What makes you think that?"

"Sorry, stupid question." She shrugged and relaxed on the arm rest.

"But somehow… it made sense." He said quietly.

"Which? The song? Or my speech?" She asked haughtily.

_**Both.**_ "No, nothing. Let's get back to the diary." He switched subjects, clearly avoiding the previous topic.

"All right." She bit her lip and wondered if she had said something wrong.

**Few hou****rs passed and they've finished 13 pages so far.**

"I can't believe how prude she is." He groaned.

"He was harassing her! Well, maybe not, but he was asking for a bloody kiss! Do you know how awkward that is?" She argued.

"It was only a kiss! It wasn't as if he wanted sex with her or something." He said, whining.

"Yes! But what if they do something more than that! What if he takes advantage?!" Her eyes glowering.

"You women jump to bloody conclusions."

"Oh sure we do! Well. Don't you have other things to do? Shag Parvati or Pansy or someone." She said exasperatedly.

"Maybe I will!" Draco stood up and curled his fists into balls.

"FINE!" Hermione growled at him and pursed his lips.

Slowly, Draco's angry face turned into a small smile. He was pleased of this new Granger. Sure, she wasn't so easy to push around, but he was pleased that she could stand up for herself.

"Hey." He turned around to face her again.

"WHAT?"

"That new change… Maybe it isn't too bad." He grinned.

"Oh?" Her voice calmed down and she wondered, "_What is he trying to do now?"_

"Yeah, but don't get any ideas just because I'm complimenting you." Draco ran his fingers through his soft, silky hair.

"Wouldn't dream about it." She smirked.

"What do you want me to do with this book? Do you want it back?" She added.

"Um. Can you keep it today and I get it from you tomorrow? Pansy or Parvati might see and make money out of it." Ruffling his platinum blonde hair, he groaned.

She looked at Draco funnily and nodded anyway.

"See you 'round, _Mudblood_." And somehow, that word didn't affect Hermione in any way.

"See you 'round, _Ferret_." She smirked back.

Hermione watched as Draco left the room. Casting a quick tempus, the time was currently 10:48 pm.

A few minutes later, the tempus had struck to 11. She stood up and motioned for her room. Hopefully, she could get some sleep tonight.

By the time the clock passed to 1, Draco and Pansy were panting on his bed, both sweaty and struggling for breath. Hermione on the other hand, was wide awake, and was trying her hardest to get some sleep.

Groaning, Hermione rolled in her bed, gritting her teeth and cursing her 'insomnia'. She swore to herself that she would never take sleeping potions, thinking that it would have the same effect to sleeping pills: Addiction.

"Pansy, get dressed and go back to your room." Draco hissed.

"Why? You always let me sleep in your bed after we shag." Pansy whined.

"I'm a head boy. And as head boy, you are to follow my orders."

"I am your fiancée. As your fiancée, I have all rights to sleep in my soon to be husband's bed."

"Damn it Pansy! For the last bloody time! We are engaged till I find someone suitable enough. Can you not get that through your thick head?"

"Draco, _dear_. What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong, Pansy. Just leave me alone and go back to your room."

Draco sighed in frustration. The sex just wasn't right. It felt off, and somewhat… different. He figured that he needed something fresh… something new… something completing. Merlin forbid, but Pansy's been shagged quite too many times that her 'charm' isn't working anymore. Overall that, Pansy was driving him nuts.

Pansy just stared at him for a few moments and soon led herself off to her own room, not even bothering to put on her clothes, instead, she took one of Draco's robes and wore it. Also, she left her clothes behind along with her pink, silk thong.

Hermione could very much hear Pansy's cries of great sex a few hours ago. Although she could hear Draco's angry growls as he tells Pansy to shut up.

Shrugging, she got off from her bed, stared at the wrinkled sheets from her constant wriggling, and finally took a book in her hands to read.

She decided not to read the diary since it would be a little unfair to Malfoy. Instead, she settled in with a good Herbology book. This time, it was a _real_ Herbology book. A few hours passed, and she was half done with the book. Clock past to 4 in the morning, and there she was, restless. No sleep whatsoever, just her, and that bloody book.

Through the sleepless nights, she had been forced to cast adrenaline spells on herself, that way, she wouldn't fall asleep during classes. Despite her insomnia, she somehow manages to fall asleep for at least 30 minutes each day, enough for her to say that she had indeed gotten some sleep.

Clock past 4:50, and she decided to take a long, hot shower, water rushing down to her soft, slick skin. But her body ached for some reason. Was it the effect of no sleep at all?

She had changed and soon found herself sitting on the seat by the blazing fire in the common room. She had made herself a cup of hot chocolate and was enjoying it by the fire. The time was currently 6:30.

As she finished the contents of her drink, she placed the mug down and noticed a few head boys and girls coming down from their staircases.

There were Dean Thomas, Ceri Blackheart, and the new Hufflepuff prefect, Fa Chang **(Made up sister of Cho Chang in Hermione's year)**.

"Good morning, Hermione. Up early once again?" Dean greeted.

"Good morning, Miss Granger." Ceri nodded.

"Hullo, 'Mione." Fa smiled sheepishly, clearly tired and still very sleepy.

"Good Morning, all." Hermione nodded curtly and smiled.

Draco had come down from his room as well, dressed in his school robes but the top buttons of his shirt undone that revealed his pale skin. In his hand was a crumpled piece of parchment.

"Ferret." She said lowly, but not in a taunting way.

"Mudblood." He looked her way, but the way he had said Mudblood showed no emotion whatsoever. It was empty, and Hermione raised a brow.

"Um. Good morning, Malfoy." Ceri blushed.

Draco looked to Ceri's way and smirked. "Good morning to you too."

A split second and Malfoy's smirk turned into a blank face. He wasn't having a good day, and he didn't know why.

The atmosphere being too awkward after a few silent seconds, Hermione stood up and faced to Dean's direction then said, "Hey, Dean. D'you want to get some breakfast?" She said, pertaining to Ceri, Fa, and Dean.

They complied and all of them except for Draco walked towards the portrait hole. Dean was chatting with Ceri and Fa but Hermione stopped abruptly and turned to Draco.

"Hey, you can come too if you want." She said quietly to Draco.

Draco looked at her, his hair slightly ruffled and his lips parted.

"Hermione?" Dean called from outside.

"Yeah, coming." She said in a tone loud enough for Dean to hear.

"You can come down with us, if you want." She smiled at Draco who merely scowled.

"I don't need your sympathy, Mudblood. I can go down by myself."

"It wasn't sympathy. I was merely inviting you to go down to breakfast with us." She snapped.

"What makes you think that I'd go down with a filthy Mudblood Gryffindor like you? I can't be seen with you, nor do I, a _pureblood _**want** to be with you. So best run along with your little friends and just leave me alone." Draco said coldly.

"_**Welcome back, Draco Malfoy."**_ Evan's voice rang inside his head.

Hermione merely rolled her eyes and said, "How pitiful of me, thinking that Draco Malfoy can actually act human. But I'm wrong. You're just like your father."

"Don't you dare speak about my father like that, you filthy little tramp!" He spat.

"Oh look here now. You can badmouth my parents anytime you wish and I can't?"

"You can read that bloody diary **alone**. So I suggest you start learning Ancient Runes. Better not keep ZAR waiting, right?! YOU'RE JUST LIKE HIM! INCONSIDERATE AND JUST UTTERLY STUPID!"

She swiftly turned her heel and stomped for the portrait hole then she stopped and yelled at the top of her lungs, "AND YOU'RE RIGHT! IT'S **SYMPATHY** AFTER ALL!"

Dean, Fa, and Ceri stared at Hermione, giving her the '_you're mental'_ look.

A few people in the corridor noticed Hermione yelling.

She noticed this and glared at the people, "What?" she snapped. Not waiting for any answers from the people, she marched off for the Great Hall without even waiting for Dean and the others.

_Stupid ferret and his stinky pure__blood arse. May he rot in hell and take Pansy for a hobby! _She cursed mentally, stabbing her sausages as she took a sip of her tea.

A few minutes later of mentally cursing, Harry and Ron appeared by her side without her even noticing until…

"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed as he gave her a big hug.

Surprised by Harry's greeting, she hugged him back and gave him a small smile. She looked to Ron's direction and raised her eyebrows and said, "Good morning Harry, good morning, Ron."

"Morning." The two boys chorused.

"So how are things? Haven't talked to you for quite a while now." Harry took a seat by her side, grinning. Ron took a seat by Harry's side.

_How are things? Yeah sure, one day, Malfoy's awfully civil, next thing you know it he's a prat, then next day he decides to be nice, next day he bloody scowls at me. _

She thought and continued to stab on her sausages discreetly.

"I hardly think that a few days is quite a while, don't you think?" She said, now a bit calmed down.

"But I have been a bit… tired lately." She said quietly, and took another sip of her coffee.

"And why is that?" Harry asked.

"Um…" _Do I tell him about my insomnia? Or about how Malfoy's tiring me with his questions and sudden compliments and mostly tiring me from the thinking I've been doing… Nah. _"Homework. Lots of homework." She replied hastily.

"Oh, I see." He frowned.

"So, what's up with you?" She changed topic.

"Oh nothing much, just here and there, you know, Quidditch has been a bit hassling nowadays especially now that our N.E.W.T.s are coming in fast." He sighed and ruffled a hand through his messy hair.

"Yeah, I've been doing some light reading for N.E.W.T.s, but I will need to study so much more." She bit her lip.

"Oh? Now that's a big surprise." Ron exclaimed.

"So, Hermione, have you changed your mind on the ball?" Harry said casually and this time, Ron was listening.

"…I haven't really been thinking on it, but… Maybe, I will be going." She smiled.

"All right then."

_Good! Now all I have to do is to ask her to the ball. But how to make it… non-awkward? _Harry thought as he looked into Hermione's eyes.

She smiled at Harry who was staring at her and glared at Ron who was currently… stealing Harry's last treacle tart.

"H-" But Harry stopped when Hermione snapped at Ron.

"Ronald!"

"Fhut?" He replied as he quickly stuffed the treacle tart in his mouth.

"Do make sure you chew THEN swallow!"

Ron swallowed and growled, "I know that, I'm not stupid, _Hermione._"

"Really?" She smirked.

Harry, who was sensing the heating tension between the two, decided to change topic to try and break the tension.

"So. Have you noticed that Blaise and Draco still aren't talking? I wonder what they fought about?" Harry piped in.

"Dunno, mate. I heard that it's got something to do with Pansy." Ron turned to Harry.

"D'you reckon they fought over Pansy?" Harry wondered.

"Psh. Please, even a stupid gorilla won't be willing to fight for Pansy." Hermione huffed, clearly annoyed at the topic.

"Besides, Malfoy would be too worried about his pretty face that he won't let anyone touch it. And also the fact that he cares for no one but himself." She added.

"Right you are." Ron held his cup high then a few split seconds later, he finished its contents.

"Of course, I am." She beamed smugly.

A few silent moments later, Draco had made an entrance into the great hall, capturing many dreamy sighs, gazes, stares, and a death glare from a certain Hermione Granger.

Once Draco took his seat, Hermione quickly stood up and spat, "I'm going!" Despite her awfully short skirt, she made a run for it, not caring whatever happens to her skirt if she does so.

A lot of boys seemed to notice her running and took the opportunity to stare at her legs, and hopefully… her knickers. This made Harry seethe in anger.

Draco's attention also took turn to Hermione. He raised an eyebrow and stared at her legs to her thighs and to her skirt.

He hardly noticed that she was angry at all until she noticed that she was deliberately stomping.

"_**This is your fault, Malfoy." **_Evan's low voice rang in his head.

"_My fault? What's my fault?" _Draco groaned mentally.

"_**You heard me, your fault. It's your fault that she's so angry. Honestly, first thing in the morning and you greet her by that."**_

"_Her? Who her? What the heck are you talking about?"_

"_**You know. **__**Hermione**__**. How daft can you be? I can't believe I'm you of all people."**_

"_And? I don't care whether she's so angry. It's her fault anyway, she was the one who sympathized which I clearly did not need."_

"_**You know, you should act human once in a while too."**_

"_Too bad. I'm too much like my __**father**__." Draco said sarcastically._

"_**That way you'll never fall in love."**_

"_So? Who cares? A good shag is all I need anyway. Furthermore, I __**hate**__ commitment." _

"_**There's no use talking to a wall like you."**_

"_Good, then that's settled.__"_

"_**You're pathetic."**_

"_Just shut up and leave me alone."_

It was Potions class for Hermione, Harry and Draco. Ron on the other hand had DADA with Goyle. Hermione sat with Harry and Parvati, and Draco sat at the back of the room with Crabbe and Pansy.

Hermione fiddled with her wand. She couldn't bring herself to listen to Snape's ramblings. Everyone else in the class was scribbling furiously, taking down every word that Snape had said, surprisingly, including Harry.

_(Hermione's thoughts)_

"_I don't need your sympathy, __Mudblood. I can go down by myself." _His voice so cold. It's as if he had changed overnight… What made him act so coldly once again? Just when I thought that I was getting to know him…

"_Yeah, but don't get any ideas just because I'm complimenting you."_

_Well he can keep his bloody ego to himself! Coz I'm never EVER gon__na try to be nice anymore! Let's see him try and read that diary. HAH! I don't think he can even find someone as good as me._

_I try t__o be nice, but he abuses it._

_I try to be the opposite, and he still acts like a prat__._

_WHAT DOES IT BLOODY TAKE TO JUST GE__T THROUGH THE THICKNESS OF DRACO BLOODY MALFOY?!_

_**I'm tired of being what you want me to be**_

_**Feeling so faithless lost under the surface…**_

"_Do I complicate things for you?"_

_**Don't know what you're expecting of me…**_

_I just can__'t understand him._

_**Put under the pressure of walking in your shoes…**_

"_Because I like it…"_The lines that greatly affected her were playing in her head.

Why does he have to be like that? What is it about me that he just hates so much?

Hermione buries her face into her folded arms.

_**Every step that I take is another mistake to you**_

_**...**__**I've become so numb I can't feel you there**_

"_You're pathetic."_ He remembered Evan saying that line.

"_**I don't need your sympathy, Mudblood**__. I can go down by myself." _His own voice rang inside his head.

_**Become so tired so much more aware**_

"_How pitiful of me, thinking that Draco Malfoy can actually act human. But I'm wrong. __**You're just like your father**__." _Hermione's voice rang inside his head, making him lean against the cold wall behind him, actually regretting the things he had said.

_**I'm becoming this all I want to do…**_

_Am I really that much like my father? Is he that cold of a man?_

_I__ am not like him. I'm myself and no one controls Draco Malfoy._

…_**Is be more like me and be less like you**_

He slumped into his seat, groaning at his thoughts.

_Damned Evan. Making me think all these things_. He cursed mentally.

Almost simultaneously, Hermione and Draco both sighed loudly, making a few students look at them. She met his eyes at a very soft stare, but her gaze soon turned into a spiteful glare.

"Tell me Miss Granger, is my class _too_ boring for you that you think you can just yawn ever so loudly?" Snape glared at her.

Hermione shook her head, "I wasn't yawning, Sir."

"Fifteen points from Gryffindor." Snape added.

Hermione groaned, along with the rest of her housemates. She scanned the room, for someone who would at least be a tad sympathetic towards her, but she met someone else's eyes, Draco Malfoy's if she wasn't mistaken.

He stared back at her, and upon realizing they have actually met each others' eyes, they immediately threw hateful glares at each other.

"Do you have anything to add, Mister Malfoy?" Snape asked him.

Draco subconsciously raised a brow at him and smirked, "No. Of course not."

Somehow, Snape did not like the tone of Draco as he answered this.

"It seems like you have to adjust your ego in _this_ class, Mister Malfoy. And since Miss Granger will need some training in actually trying to stay awake… Detention, both of you. Tomorrow evening at 9." Snape squinted at both students and cast a quick tempus.

"Dismissed." Snape announced.

Hearing groaning and sighs from the students, Hermione decided to get left back and argue about her detention tomorrow night. She told Harry to go on since she needed a word with Professor Snape.

She was Hermione Granger. SHE never gets detention. She has a flawless conduct! Or rather, _had_ a flawless conduct.

**After several minutes of arguing with Snape…**

"No means no, Miss Granger. I never back down on my word." Snape said exasperatedly.

"But Professor Snape!" She tried to argue.

"No means no, Miss Granger. Now if you keep insisting, then I might even make it TWO weeks of detention and _twenty_ points from your house. I suggest you stop pestering me and have a good day." He said sternly.

And with that, Hermione excused herself and made her way for the door where she found Draco leaning on the wall beside the door with a large smirk on his face.

"_Okay, here you are, and you're going to apologize for the things you've said this morning." Draco said to himself._

Hermione raised a brow at him and glared.

"Mudblood." He greeted casually.

"Git." She retorted.

"Cool down, I merely wanted to say that I'm _sorry_ that you have to spend detention with me and that your previously flawless conduct has now a flaw." He shrugged.

"Well, look here, MALFOY. I don't need your stupid sympathy. Because a person so high and mighty such as Draco Malfoy who happens to be the son of the infamous Lucius Malfoy shouldn't be fraternizing with filthy little Mudbloods such as _ME_, Hermione Granger, daughter of two mere Muggles." She seethed.

"But I wanted to say—" But was cut by Hermione.

"SAVE IT, MALFOY! I DON'T WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOU ANYMORE! SO JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" She growled.

Draco was taken aback by her sudden outburst and had a hard time looking for a right retort.

But there he was, leaning on the wall, alone in the corridors with a very angry Hermione Granger with nothing to say….

**Author's note: Okay, took quite longer**** to update than expected. But nonetheless, next chapter will be about their detention... with Snape.**

**Preview:**

"_Oh my, this may be a problem."_

"WATCH YOUR MOUTH!"  
"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"  
"SCREW YOU!"  
"NO THANK YOU! I'D RATHER SCREW SOMEONE ELSE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"

**(Hilarious scene, the way I imagined it in my head.)**


	7. Beginning of the Storm

**Turning of the Tides**

**A/N: **Thank you guys so much for the lovely reviews! I expect more to come!

**Chapter seven: Beginning of the Storm**

Hermione felt like murdering someone just about that moment but she decided to leave him be and just avoid him for the rest of her life.

_**But will she be even able to do that?**_

With that, she left him in that very corridor, just staring at the floor, his mind blank, with nothing to think of. No Evan's voice scolding him, just Draco Malfoy and his cold-hearted self.

She curled her fists into balls and grit her teeth in seething anger. Not caring whether the people in the halls were looking at her as she muttered several curse words under her breath. It was as if just seeing Malfoy's face triggered her temper. Next was her free period so she was worry-free of getting into more trouble.

She was overreacting, and she knew it. But today, she was a tad bit sensitive and would most probably blow up again at anytime. She needed someone to just pour out her anger on. Someone who didn't care whatever she'd talk about.

That leads to Blaise Zabini.

Draco on the other hand led himself to the Quidditch pitch. He thought he'd take the rest of the day off to just fly and leave everything behind.

With the cold air infiltrating his nostrils, the wind sweeping at the back of his neck, feeling the tingling sensation of the wind as it pushed back his hair… Everything was forgotten.

Hermione pursed her lips. She couldn't find Blaise in the Great Hall. _Perhaps he was in the common room all along? _She sighed and made her way to the Slytherin Common Room.

The portrait hissed at her and she replied, "Head Girl, I have permission to pass."

The portrait hissed again and said, "Passsssword?"

She rolled her eyes and said, "Bloody Bludgers." She snorted at the outlandish password as the portrait swung open, revealing the ridiculously expensive looking common room.

She minute she stepped a toe inside the common room, Hermione saw Pansy Parkinson making out with someone other than Draco Malfoy, actually the lot of the students were practically snogging their lives out, and there was Millicent Bulstrode talking to Blaise. Her eyebrows rose and she cleared her throat loudly, causing everyone in the room to look at her direction.

She met eyes with hateful glares as she walked faster towards Blaise.

"Mudbl-" Pansy was cut by Blaise.

"-Granger! How great of you to stop by." Blaise grinned and Millicent merely scowled.

"Need to talk, now." She said hurriedly and gulped as she heard Millicent crack her knuckles.

He nodded and turned to Millicent, "I guess we'll talk later. Ciao." He grinned at her and walked up to Hermione.

"Let's go to the lakeside, best not be seen together here." Blaise said casually.

She raised an eyebrow and nodded grimly, "All right."

They reached the lakeside in no time, although throughout the walk, Hermione was awfully quiet.

"I thought you wanted to talk?" Blaise asked her.

"Yeah." She sighed and took a seat on the grass.

"Then why aren't you talking?"

"Dunno." She started plucking out some of the grass from the earth.

"Granger, were not going anywhere with you just saying _dunno_, you know."

"It's weird. He's so caprice." She groaned.

"One day, he's just absolutely human, next thing you know it, he's back to being an insufferable prat!" She added angrily, throwing some stones toward the lake.

"That's an improvement other than 'dunno'… but you do realize that I need you to elaborate that for me, right?" He smirked.

"Well, after he deliberately apologized to me, then he asks me something weird like, 'do I complicate you?' and I wake up early in the morning to just try to be civil with him, he starts acting like his old self! His capriciousness is driving me mental!" She groaned.

"Better stay away from him then." Blaise shrugged.

"Exactly!" She exclaimed.

"Then there's nothing the matter." He sighed.

"But… It does bug me though… does he have schizophrenia?" She asked him with wide eyes.

"Schizo-wha?"

"You know, Schizophrenia. It's a Muggle mental disease where you have multiple personalities. Although I'm not so sure if the Wizarding World is familiar with that." She explained.

"I don't think so, no." Blaise shook his head in confusion.

"Anyway, he still seems schizophrenic to me." She gritted her teeth.

"It's best that you just stay away from him to avoid the fights. It seems that you both think about it far too much when you do have an argument. Be careful, Granger. One may even think that you're… a bickering couple." He grinned.

Although he meant it as a joke, she took it rather seriously.

"Don't you _ever_ say that. Because we never will be one."

"But it was just a j-"

"I don't care whether you meant it as a joke. Remember, Blaise, I am Hermione Granger. You should know well by now that I do not mix well with such humour." She retorted.

Blaise stared at her for a few good seconds and said, "Granger?"

"Yeah?" She calmed down.

"Here's my advice then… Don't let it get to you." He smiled.

_Now that's an advice._

"Who knew that Blaise Zabini could be the one to turn to when a girl needs advice?" She chuckled at him.

"You know…" He said quietly.

"Yes?"

"To be honest with you, you're the only one that I've ever given advice to." He continued.

"Really? My, for a first timer, you're pretty damn good."

"I guess." He shrugged.

"It comes with my Slytherin charm." He added and stared at the glistening lake.

Hermione merely chuckled and also stared out the lake. The skies were pink and the setting sun was a beautiful shade of orange.

"It's beautiful." She grinned at the sight.

Blaise looked at Hermione who was admiring the view and he said quietly, "Yeah… _Beautiful_."

His eyes widened when he realized what he just meant.

She looked at him and smiled.

"I meant the sky, Granger. Not you." He snorted as an excuse.

_What the fuck was I just thinking about?! _Blaise thought.

"I know that." Hermione huffed and laughed it off.

An awkward silence fell between the two until Blaise finally spoke.

"It does trouble me, though. Why does the Gryffindor Mudblood keep coming to me for advice when she has Potter, Weasel, or even little Weaselette?" He smirked nonchalantly.

"Is it because she fancies me?" He added, as if talking to himself loudly.

"Actually, _Blaise_, I can't talk to Harry about Malfoy because you know very well how much he hates the ferret. I can't talk to Ginny about Malfoy because she'd just get angry since she just absolutely adores him and if she does find out that I've been spending time with him, she'd go berserk saying that I've been selfish and such.

Third of all, who would ask _Ron_ for advice? Honestly, even a log would be better to talk to than him. So I turn to Blaise Zabini, who knows Draco Malfoy inside out. Who also happens to be right beside me." She huffed and rolled her eyes at him.

"Too bad, I almost had the impression that you did fancy me." He put on a mock-hopeful look.

"You have very bad intuition then."

"Say whatever you want, Mudblood."

"I get enough of that from ferret; must you really call me that?" She sighed in exasperation.

He chuckled and said, "I don't mean it like how he says it, Miss."

She returned a grin and cast a quick tempus. It was nearly time for dinner.

"5:40. It's getting pretty late." She stood up and offered a hand for him to take

"Yeah." He nodded and took her hand as support when he stood up.

Both brushing the grass off their bottoms, thunder started to emerge from high above them. Hermione shrieked and shut her eyes tightly as it continued to emerge.

"C'mon. It's about to pour. Let's go." Blaise took her hand once again and squeezed it tightly as he tried to pull her back into the castle, but she wouldn't move. She merely stood there, her feet glued to the ground with her eyes shut tight.

"Hermione, are you scared of the thunder?" He asked her half worriedly, and half jokingly.

She nodded and let out a mind threatening shriek when the thunders grew louder.

"C'mon. Let's go." Blaise gave her hand light squeeze and she opened her eyes, revealing two scared looking brown eyes.

She nodded and they both started making their way back into the castle, although in the middle of their walk, the rain finally poured resulting both of them dripping wet and their shoes muddy.

At the brighter side, they did end up in school safe and sound. And despite their current condition, no one was hurt.

Due to the lack of time, Hermione and Blaise had no chance of going back to their common rooms to change into clean clothes. In fact, they merely did a drying spell on them so that they would feel a lot comfortable. But still, despite the dried clothes, they couldn't help but feel uncomfortable since their clothes were still muddy.

Wrinkling her nose, both of them opened the Great Doors and obviously, eyes were on them. It was the second time that they had gone to dinner together, and people were starting to get curious.

"_Oh my, they're together again."_

"_You think they're together?"_

"_But he's much too hot for her."_

"_Don't say that, did you see her rack lately? It's been growing quite healthily."_

"_You're disgusting to even think of her like that."_

"_You've got to admit, they look pretty damn good together."_

"_Yes, indeed. But still, I don't like her being with him."_

And a bunch of other conversations erupted through the Great Hall. No one really noticed how they looked like until now, all muddy and clothes obviously under a drying spell.

Both parted ways and went to their respective tables.

Harry, as usual, had already saved a seat for Hermione and he waved at her, signaling for her to go to his direction.

She smiled at him and quickly took the saved seat. Sighing in much relief, she said,

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it. So why are you with Blaise? Are you two… together? I mean… this is the second time that you've gone to dinner together and… I dunno…"

Harry was worried that Blaise might actually steal Hermione from him but she laughed and said, "Of course not! What made you think that?"

"Oh n-nothing. Just wondering, you know?" Harry stuttered.

"Well, if you're going to ask, I merely asked Blaise some advice about Ma-" She paused when she realized that she was about to reveal the name, Malfoy.

"Ma-?" Harry asked her, clearly confused.

"Marks. Dark Marks." She continued in a smart tone.

"Oh I see, what about it? And would you ask _him_ about it?" Harry asked her, saying the word him in a rather low tone.

"Just wondering. You know, since he's mostly around death eaters and he seems to be the most civil one among them. Among Slytherins, I mean." She lied.

"I see. But the Dark Mark, what for?" Harry seemed to be interested in the subject.

"Um… You know me, wanting to learn new things and such." She chuckled nervously, hoping that Harry bought her excuse.

"Oh. I see. Well, to fill you in on things, Seamus just asked Parvati out." Harry smirked.

"Seamus?! With… **(Hermione squints her eye at Parvati)** with PARVATI!? You've got to be kidding me!" Hermione gasped.

"Yup, and she said YES." Ron added.

"Ron! I didn't see you there." She laughed, and then turned back into her serious face at Harry.

"What is the world coming to?" She frowned.

"Well, that's life." He grinned at her then looked down at her clothes.

"Is it just me, or are your robes a bit… different?" Harry pointed at her muddy shoes.

"Um. Got caught in the rain. It was thunders and lightning out there." She pouted.

"I see. Oh, yeah, don't forget your detention with Snape." Harry added.

"OUR Hermione got detention!? You're absolutely right, Hermione. What's the world got into?!" said Ron dramatically, dropping his fork as he took the information in.

"Yes, I got detention with Snape. Worst of all, I'm spending it with Malfoy." She grumbled.

"Malfoy in detention with Snape. Finally he's received_ castigation_ from that git of a Professor after seven years." Ron sighed, taking a bite off his chicken.

"Whoa, easy with the big words, mate." Harry chortled.

"Laugh all you want but I'm doing this to impress someone." Ron said courageously, the sense of pride audible in his voice.

"Oooooohhh! _Won-Won_ has a fancy for someone! And he's willing to enhance his vocabulary for her." Hermione teased.

"Really, Ron? Who is it?" Harry's eyes lightened.

"You don't need to know." Ron cut them off.

"Come on, we're just _dying _to know." Harry waggled her eyebrows at Hermione.

"Her name's Ceri."

"Blackheart? Ravenclaw Prefect? Yeah, is that her?" Hermione grinned.

Ron looked down and nodded, not facing any of them, due to his red state.

"Oh Ron." Hermione and Harry sighed then continued to eat quietly.

**Ever wondered what happened to Draco? Well, here's what happened.**

As dawn came, thunder struck, making Draco let out a shriek. He quickly flew down and made his way for the broom shed. He then waited for 30 minutes, but the rain never stopped. Realizing that he had no choice but to run, he sped down to the castle, not caring anymore whether his clothes got wet or dirty.

He got into the castle and noticed that no one was in the halls anymore. Groaning, he looked down at his clothes and scowled. He looked dirty, muddy, and he felt cold. But nonetheless, he still looked good. Draco Malfoy will always be Draco Malfoy after all.

He pursed his lips angrily and made his way to the Great Hall, dripping wet. A few gasps and whispers emanated from the tables. Everyone was looking at him, and he merely sighed in frustration.

"_Oh my… I don't think it's healthy to look that delicious."_

"_I don't think it is, either."_

"_Now I think __**I'm**__ wet."_

"_Merlin forbid, I might just pounce on him now."_

He paused to glance at every table; his eyes fell onto the Gryffindor table where Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown were constantly gaping at him. He rolled his eyes to gaze at Potter who was talking to Finnigan; Weasley was, as usual, grinding down every piece of food in his plate. Then his eyes fell into Hermione's gaze. More like glare. She was glaring at him like an angry hyena that was ready to attack at any time.

He smirked and resumed to his walk towards the Slytherin table. His eyes met with Blaise's for a split second, but Draco quickly looked away.

*****

Hermione stared at Draco her eyes squinting as she did so.

_Bloody prat. Making a damned entrance. I'd shove a bloody broom up his arse if I had the chance._ Hermione grimaced as Pansy started cooing Draco.

"Oh Draaaco, it's All right. You still look adorable when wet. And utterly hunky as well." Pansy gushed.

"Bugger off Malfoy, Pansy." Crabbe snapped at Pansy.

"Watch your mouth, Vince." Pansy snapped back at Crabbe, she looked as if she was about to stab him with her fork.

"Pansy, lay off." Malfoy sighed and looked at her tiredly.

Pansy acquiesced and began stuffing her mouth with pudding out of anger.

"Crabbe, do you have your wand?" Draco turned to him.

"Actually I have m-" Pansy was cut by Crabbe's answer, "-Yeah, I have it."

Pansy glared him and stuck her nose in the air arrogantly.

Crabbe gave Malfoy his wand and then smirked at Pansy.

"Better luck next time, Parkinson." Crabbe hissed. Pansy merely huffed and acted as if she could not hear Crabbe at all.

Draco muttered a drying spell and soon felt a little less uncomfortable. Nodding curtly as he gave Crabbe his wand back, Draco suddenly asked, "Crabbe, where's Goyle?"

Goyle snorted and answered, "He accidentally opened a vile of bubotuber pus thinking that it was Angolian venom. Poor bloke's got boils on his feet and hands."

Draco and Pansy cringed as he finished speaking.

"What happened to _you_, Draco?" Pansy asked politely.

"You don't wanna know, Pans." He groaned as he ruffled his sticky hair.

He wrinkled his nose at the unusual feeling of his normally silky, soft hair. Right now, it was sticky and just did not feel right.

Rolling his eyes at Pansy, he started to fill his plate with turkey and mashed potatoes.

**Fast forward…**

"Hermione, it's nearly 9 o' clock. You have fifteen minutes to go to Snape. And believe me, just on time is equivalent to ten minutes late. Which mostly results into him taking more house points from me." Harry sighed as he watched Hermione fuss over the scattered parchments on her bed.

Hermione sighed and nodded at Harry. "He's even worse in detention?" She scowled and quickly grabbed her wand and stuffed it in her robe.

She smiled at him and Harry did the same. How he wished he wasn't in love with his best friend, things would have been much easier that way.

It seemed too awkward now that they were staring at each other for a good whole minute, so Harry started to take action. He cleared his throat and said, "Um. You better go now."

Startled, Hermione stuttered and looked away then blushed. "Yeah, I should."

She made her way towards the portrait hole, and Harry watched her as she walked.

Just in front of the portrait hole, Hermione turned around abruptly and saw Harry staring at her once again. She grinned and said, "See you later Harry!" After saying that, she quickly made her way for the potions classroom.

To her big surprise, she stopped when she saw Blaise Zabini come out of the DADA classroom.

"Blaise?" She called out.

"Granger?" Blaise croaked, his eyes showing confusion.

"Why are you here?" She asked him.

"Had to talk to Professor Moody about things." Blaise said hesitantly.

"I see. Well, I'm off to detention now." She shrugged and started to walk once again.

"Wait!" he cried.

"Huh?" She spun around, and looked at him funnily.

He started moving towards her in a pace and panted, "Let me… walk you there."

"All right." She nodded and began to walk with Blaise.

"We're nearly there." Blaise said quietly.

"Yeah." She smiled at him.

Malfoy on the other hand had already made his way to detention. He finally changed into warm, clean clothes and had also taken the chance to wash his hair so that it would have its usual soft, silky feel.

And just a few meters away from the potions door…

Blaise and Hermione finally reached their destination. But they had no knowledge that Draco was already inside.

"We're here, Granger." Blaise chuckled at Hermione who was staring at the ground all throughout the walk.

Hermione looked up to see that in front of her was a large wooden door which leads inside the room.

Draco got bored since Snape was nowhere to be found and decided to check outside if he was planning to come or not. He paced towards the door and opened it to see…

"Granger?" Draco was shocked at the sight of Blaise and Hermione together.

"Malfoy?!" Hermione's eyes were wide. She didn't expect for Draco to show up for detention. After all, from what she's heard, Draco _never_ shows up in detention. He usually ends up faking an excuse.

"Blaise." Draco glared at him.

"Draco." Blaise said coolly then nodded.

"But I thought you weren't talking?" Hermione whispered to Blaise.

Apparently, Malfoy had heard this and said, "Indeed you are right, Mudblood, we're not. Now, if you will please excuse me…"

He rolled his eyes and pushed through Hermione then brushed his shoulder with Blaise painfully which made Blaise wince in pain, and saw Professor Severus Snape right in front of him, with arms folded across his chest. He also had a scowl on his face. Obviously, Professor Snape was not pleased.

"Leaving so soon, Miss Granger?" Snape sneered at him.

Hermione paled and nodded at Blaise as a signal for him to leave.

"No not at all, Sir."

Blaise quickly understood her and excused himself quietly. "I must be going, Professor. Good night."

"Good night, Mister Zabini." Snape replied, but did not bother to look at Blaise. The Professor's gaze was pointed straight at Malfoy.

"I was going to call for you, since you were taking too long." Malfoy said.

"I see… Well, please take your seats." Snape raised an eyebrow at a paling Hermione.

Both quickly acquiesced and took their seats. Malfoy was at the far right, and Hermione was at the far left.

"Now, since you are both Head Boy and Girl of the student body, you are both assigned in charge of Christmas Ball Committee. Of course this was not my idea of a detention for what I had in mind was a good three hours of cleaning the bubotuber pus. But since the Headmaster asked _so_ nicely, I had no other choice." Snape stated.

"Um, sir, aren't committees made up of big groups?" Hermione asked quietly, using the most humble tone possible.

"As of right now, you are both the leaders of the committee. Must I repeat everything for you, Miss Granger?" Snape sighed.

"Oh…" Hermione said quietly, digesting every word that Snape just said, and Draco was also thinking of what Snape just said, somehow, it just did not sink in.

And when it did…

"**WHAT?!"** Both of them chorused in anger.

"Sir, _please_, by all means. You CANNOT let us work together!" Hermione pleaded.

"Sev, working with her as Head Boy is already bad enough, don't make me do this!" Draco slammed his fist on the table angrily.

"Professor, I would gladly help out as long as I don't work with Malfoy." said Hermione.

"No, Granger, the headmaster has decided." Snape said snappily.

"But Professor!" Hermione and Draco whined.

"**NO MEANS NO!"** Snape growled, his eyes flaring.

Flabbergasted, the two fell silent as Snape continued to share the 'plans'.

"Now, you two will be in charge. I expect you two to work as a _team_—and I don't care about your personal concerns. You will have elves to help you on the decorations and the set up. The rest is up to you to plan." Snape rolled his eyes at Hermione.

"Team?!" Malfoy said to himself loudly and angrily.

Hermione nearly melted in her seat. She just wanted to get out of there. Just the thought of them working together would be so mortifying.

"Yes, Mister Malfoy, as a **team**." Snape smirked.

"The Christmas Ball will be in two months time. That is plenty of time to plan it. I will be anticipating a great event." He added.

_Oh how Snape just adores torturing his students._

Snape stared at his miserable students and felt somewhat relieved. Glancing at the time, it was already 10:01. He shrugged and said, "All right. Get your presence out from my room. Go back to your common room now."

Neither of them spoke. They merely nodded in obedience.

Turning their heels for the door, each walked robotically. Both were quiet and seething inside.

As they reached the door, they bumped into each other due to the lack of space. (They were both trying to get out at the same time.)

"Watch it Mudblood!" Malfoy snarled as he felt their shoulders crash against each other.

Stepping back, Hermione glared and started to crack her knuckles as she growled, "No, _you_ watch it, bastard!"

Snape watched them from afar. He smirked and sneered to himself,

"_Oh my, this may be a problem."_

"WATCH YOUR MOUTH!"

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"

"SCREW YOU!"

"NO THANK YOU! I'D RATHER SCREW SOMEONE ELSE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"

Snape's eyes widened as he heard this statement from Malfoy and bit back a chuckle.

Hermione scowled at Malfoy and stuck her nose in the air and started marching straight for the door once again, not caring whether Malfoy would bump into her or the other way around.

"Hey! I told you to watch where y-" He didn't get to finish his sentence in time for Hermione had already walked past through Malfoy and brushing against his shoulder painfully during the process.

"Insufferable prat." She swore under her breath. Her footsteps were loud and heavy as she paced through the corridors.

"GREAT! Now I'll be seeing more of her." Malfoy groaned as he made his way slowly through the corridors. Hoping to make sure that he was slow enough to not be able to catch up with a certain Witch.

Snape smirked in amusement as the two students left his room. _"Team indeed."_ Snape shook his head.

He heard the loud thunder and the heavy clatters of rain. Looking out the window abruptly, he stretched his arms away from his chest and said, _"Looks like this is going to be the beginning of a great storm."_

**A/N: **Hello, darlings. Have you all been well? Well this is the seventh chapter for Turning of the Tides, and I am happy to say that there will be more. This chapter consists of roughly 4,300 words and thirteen pages (not double spaced) so I'd be happy to see some reviews there.


	8. Flight of the Storm

**Turning of the Tides**

**Chapter eight: Flight of the Storm**

"Honestly that Malfoy!" Hermione snarled to herself then said the password, _"Eye for an eye."_ And the portrait swung open.

Dean was there sitting on the couch and surprisingly, so were Harry and Ron.

"Harry!" She exclaimed.

"Ron?" Her eyes shot wide as she saw the certain red head sitting along with Harry, Ron, and Dean. She scanned the room, hoping to see no Malfoy in sight but her eyes landed on Ceri Blackheart who was currently reading a book. Rolling her eyes once again, she noticed that Ron was staring, no, gawking at Ceri then she shrugged, now that she knew the answer to _why_ Ronald was in her common room.

"Hey 'Mione." Harry grinned at her.

"Hey." Was all that Ron could muster for he was busy gazing at the raven haired girl at the back of the room.

"Good evening, Hermione." Dean said politely.

She nodded curtly at them and took a seat beside Dean.

"So what's going on?" Hermione asked even though she did know what was going on, exactly.

"Well," Harry whispered to Hermione in order for neither Ceri nor Ron to hear.

"Ron asked me, no, begged me to come with him to your common room to see _her_." He lowered his tone when he said, 'her'.

"I see." She furrowed her eyebrows at Ceri and frowned. For some unknown reason, she felt poignant about Ron moving on.

Hermione for one hadn't moved on yet, and for now, she wanted the feelings to go away.

"_**He used to look at me like that…**_**" **she said to herself and Hermione's lip quivered slightly.

**Flashback:**

"_Mione, don't you think it was much easier when we were friends, eh?" Ron chuckled at her as they watched the fireworks from the lake._

"_Yeah, things are quite shaky nowadays…" She smiled at him._

"_Hermione, this isn't working out, I mean." Ron bit his lip for what he was about to tell the one person he used to love the most._

"_Oh. I see. Then, we're… better off… as __**friends**__…" She whispered, trying to choke back the tears that were threatening to fall._

"_I'm sorry." Ron said quietly, now grasping her hand tightly._

_She squeezed his hand and once she did that, the tears just fell… streaming down her cheeks as she sobbed quietly._

"_Come here…" Ron hugged Hermione tight, wanting his ex-girlfriend to feel comfort in him despite their breakup._

"_But I love you Ron…" She sobbed. Her throat burning as she just wanted to scream and cry her heart out, but screaming wasn't like Hermione at all._

"_Thank you." He whispered against her hair._

_He didn't say that he loved her like how she did because he didn't anymore, but thanked her for the wonderful times she's given him, for the comfort he found in her, for the love and sincerity she gave him._

_And throughout that night, she cried her heart out in her ex-boyfriend's arms, pouring out the sadness and regret._

Ever since that day, Hermione and Ron relationship was no more—now their long lasting friendship wasting away.

"I…" She stood up, facing away.

"I have to go to the library and…" She looked at Harry but her eyes gazed away to Ron and Ceri talking to each other.

"_Read._" She continued; her voice thin and her eyes narrowing at Ceri laughing at most probably one of Ron's horrible jokes.

Hermione practically begged her feet to make them move away from that room.

"Okay, Mione. But are you sure?" Harry asked her worriedly.

"Coz it seems a bit late for reading now, don't you think?" He continued.

"Yes, well… There is this book from the restricted section that obviously I cannot take out here… so I'd rather read it there." She lied.

_Great going Granger, not only are you the new snippy Granger, you're obviously the lying one as well._

Not even wanting to hear what Harry had to say, she jogged her way out of the room in a pace. She was now desperately running to wherever her feet would drag her to, she needed closure, she needed…

And the first name that came into mind was: Blaise Zabini

She needed to rant on someone badly, but obviously Blaise was in the common room most probably shagging someone or better yet, he could be sleeping.

She groaned as she finally stopped running to find herself at the entrance of the astronomy tower.

"Some cold, fresh air would do me good." She mumbled.

She touched the cold, stone walls as she made her way up the creaky, old stairs. The cold air was breezing through the tower, and she shivered faintly.

Once she reached the top, she saw a figure, with many books around him, his platinum blonde tresses on his face as he held a book up to his nose, trying to read whatever was in his hands.

But she knew that pale skin and blonde hair anywhere.

"Malfoy?" She called out, cautious of her tone incase she was wrong.

"Ho, huh?" He mumbled.

She looked at the book he was holding on to. A green, leather book. Her eyes fell onto his surprised ones and she realized, "What are you doing with that book?" She snarled.

"Reading it. Are you stupid?" He retorted.

"I mean HOW you got your hands on the book!" Hermione's eyes were wide shot.

"Never question a Slytherin and his ways, child." He snickered.

"YOU ROBBED ME!? No, YOU RANSACKED MY BEDROOM?!" She growled.

"Of course not. I merely accio'd it. Gee, Granger, and I thought you were smart." He rolled his eyes at her, showing complete boredom. Draco was also offended by the accusation that Hermione has pointed out on him.

"Oh." She blushed in embarrassment.

Both remained silent and Draco continued his so called 'professional translation' which is clearly not going anywhere.

Hermione on the other hand felt bad about accusing Draco of such a vulgar act. She sat down away from him, beside the large window which illuminated the whole room through the moonlight. Wrapping her arms around her knees, she rested her cheek on her knee, and sighed in contentment.

She needed someone to talk to; even Malfoy would do if he just keeps quiet as a log.

A few minutes passed and neither had said a word.

That was until…

"You remember our deal?" Hermione asked him casually.

"I have no time to think about stupid deals when I'm trying to read." Draco snarled, but did not face her.

She said nothing in reply, but it was visible that her face full of hope rapidly saddened in about a few seconds. Draco saw this and merely did not mind it.

Once again, the inevitable silence has erupted through the whole tower. Only the hoots of owls and the casual chirping of the crickets were the only source of sound as of that moment.

Not too long later, Hermione decided to pursue her need of a person to rant to, and had also fatally decided that as of that moment, Draco Malfoy was the only one available.

"You didn't break the deal yet, you know." She said quietly.

"What?" Draco's dead cocked to his right as he contemplated about what she had just said.

"We had a deal, remember? The one where we try to be civil to one another." She bit her lip.

"Oh that. Well, I sorta screwed it up on the whole sympathy deal, so it's okay. Besides, you clearly don't want to translate for me anymore since you did say it yourself. So here I am, doing some professional translation." Draco pointed at the large stack of books around him.

She laughed at him and said, "I hardly think that's professional translation at all, Mister Malfoy."

"I'll have you know that I am doing fine with this, thank you very much." Draco stuck his nose in the air and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I don't remember myself calling off the deal, now do I?" She smirked.

"I merely said my previous statements this morning out of exasperation, right?" She continued, now twiddling with her fingers.

"Which means…?" Draco's eyebrows furrowed. He just couldn't understand where or what Hermione was getting to.

"Must I spell out everything for you?" She laughs.

Draco relaxed a bit and replied, "Technically, in this case, yes."

"What I meant to say, whether **both you and I** like it or not, I'm still your translator." She said with a small smile visual on her face.

"Really, Granger?" Draco's eyes widened and he pushed the books away from him.

"Really, Malfoy." She said, now with a proud smile on her face.

Draco looks at her in disbelief. "Okay, what's the catch?" Draco asked her with a smirk.

Hermione sighs and easily complied, "I need someone to rant to badly, and Blaise isn't arou-" But was soon cut off by Draco.

"Blaise? Since when did you get so buddy-buddy with him?" Draco raised a brow at her, showing interest.

Hermione looks at him and nods shyly. She shouldn't have mentioned Blaise, knowing that both Blaise and Draco are both uneasy to talk about each other.

"Tell me, _Hermione_, do you have a **thing** for Mister Zabini?" Draco asked her with a slightly husky voice.

Hermione gasps and falls into fits of laughter. "O-of course not! Hahaha! Are you bloody daft? He's just a great advisor, that's all! And the most approachable one too!" She replied, but had a hard time as she was laughing terribly hard.

"Approachable?" Draco repeats the line and ponders for it for a second but let the thought slip as he quickly says, "Okay, okay, perceptible that I don't really care at all, let's get onto the diary and with the diary and after that, you may rant to me about whatever, and I shall pretend to listen. Deal?" Draco starts to clean up the quills lying around and stacks the books back up behind him.

"Deal." Was all she said and quickly took the diary from beside him.

"_**May 29**__**th**__**, Wednesday**_

_**For some reason, I feel awkward towards Wenny. It's been weird. Ric (Godric Gryffindor) has been quite the flirt around her and I can't help but feel bloody annoyed. Moreover, Helga's seducing isn't working on me anymore. And when Wenny touches me in the most innocent way of even just slapping me, I get turned on quite easily. Bloody hell! I'm turning mental, I tell you! And after I've asked for that bloody kiss, it's like I can't even face her anymore. But she acts as if nothing happened between us. Moreover, everyone's been asking her out these days, and I get even MORE annoyed! Why can't they just bugger of and let her be mine? I mean… I didn't mean that, did I? Course I didn't. Agh now I'm confused. Sigh, I better get some sleep. Oh and by the way, I haven't had a single shag this week and that's really bad.**_

_**Groans,**_

_**Zar"**_

"He's fallen in love with her." Hermione says softly. Draco and Hermione's shoulders were now pressed firmly together, and from her position, she could feel his slow breathing.

"Idiot Zar." He mumbles, now slightly resting his chin on her shoulder.

Not wanting to make the position seem even more awkward, she continued reading.

"_**May 30**__**th**__**, Thursday**_

_**Today, Wenny slapped me. **__(Hermione gasps)__** Well, she slapped me for a reason. I was being a prat, yes, shocking, but I really was, I guess. It was a bad day. Anyway, here's what happened:**_

_**Madame Zaelote announced something about the ball in a few weeks time. It's been a really hectic thing for almost everyone except me. You know the dates crap. But nonetheless, walking by the corridors, I was thinking of who, among the girls who asked me to the dance, shall I choose? But then… Suddenly, I saw Ric and Wenny nearly getting it on!**_

'_**Bloody hell. Get off her, mate!' I growled at Ric who was groping on Wenny's breast and was constantly kissing her. (Somehow I think she liked it.)**_

'_**Go away, Zar, this is a private conversation.' Ric smirked and finally stopped kissing her.**_

'_**Conver-sation!? THIS IS NO BLOODY CONVERSATION! YOU'RE PRACTICALLY HAVING SEX IN THE HALLS!' My eyes bulged at him.**_

'_**And? It's not like **__**you**__** don't do this…' He licked Wenny's lips who merely moaned.**_

'_**...Right?' He stopped abruptly and smirked at me once again.**_

'_**Wenny, get away from him.' I told Rowena, in a stern voice.**_

'_**Zar, please leave us alone.' She told me quietly, as she pushed Ric away from her.**_

'_**So I guess it's going to be that way? Alright.' I forced a seething smile at her.**_

_**I stared at her for a few seconds then finally tore my gaze away from hers.**_

_**Somehow, my throat burned and I felt like my eyes were going to pop out as I walked away from the …couple. **_

_**I've been quiet that night. I sat in the common room… in front of the fire. Replays of that horrible scene playing over and over again inside my head.**_

_**Suddenly, I heard the door creak and it revealed a slightly tired looking Rowena.**_

'_**Had fun?' I snarled at her.**_

'_**Had fun with what?' She replied in a hasty manner.**_

'_**Was he a good shag?' I said through my teeth.**_

'_**I-I dunno what you're talking about, Zar. We were only kissing.' She stuttered.**_

_**Typical, very typical.**_

'_**Really now? Don't tell me you're lying to your own friend as well?' I glared at her.**_

'_**What do you m-' But I cut her off, saying,**_

'_**Save it. I can't believe he tarnished your body which you never even let me touch. Then you go to bloody Godric Gryffindor to get shagged over the night? I can't believe you.' My lips quivered in anger as I said it.**_

'_**Zar, let me explain…' Rowena touched my shoulder lightly, but I moved away.**_

'_**GET AWAY FROM ME YOU DIRTY TART!' I glowered at her.**_

_**  
'HOW DARE YOU!'**_

_**And there it was, the deafening cry of a slap emanated from the force of her hand against my cheek. It happened in a matter of a split second and it caused my head to turn sideways.**_

_**She took her hand back and started to sob.**_

'_**I c-can't believe you. Y-you shag practically everyday with anyone and anywhere and when I finally do, you call me names? Y-you're impossible!' She started sobbing terribly.**_

_**My head was still turned to my side, thinking of what she just said.**_

'_**He's a bad Wizard, Wen.' I said quietly, my head now facing down, the pain coming from the slap not long ago seething in pain.**_

'_**But I love him.' She retorted.  
**_

'_**Are you sure about that?' I looked up to meet her eyes.**_

_**She didn't answer.**_

_**And this was my signal to depart.**_

_**My throat burned like hell, and somehow, angry tears just fell one after the other as I gripped onto my bed sheets.**_

_**Yeah, yeah. Crying is not cool.**_

_**It was painful.**_

_**So that's why she never let me neither touch her nor let me kiss her. She was with him. With the one person I hate the most.**_

_**The one person who took away my meaning of existence.**_

_**That night, I realized, I was in love with her. I pondered on it a few times and let it go thinking I was lusting over her. But I was in love with her, and those tears proved that.**_

_**That night, I lay on my bed; the hardly visible streaks of tears stained my cheeks.**_

_**I didn't get any sleep for a while, but soon after that I dozed off.**_

_**-Zar**_

Hermione's throat burned and tears started forming in her eyes. She felt really sorry for Zar. How he never knew that he was in love with her until then.

"Granger?" Draco said softly, not realizing that his head was resting onto her shoulder.

"Sorry, um. Would you like to go to the next entry?" She hiccupped, not wanting Malfoy to see her state.

"Are you okay?" He asked in an arrogant tone, but sincerity almost audible.

"Yeah." She gulped.

"Oh, okay, I wouldn't want you crying, now would we?" He smiled at her, a genuine smile across his face.

She was shocked to see that smile. For a moment there, she was expecting a mock from him.

"Yeah. Now would you like to go to the next entry?" She looked away, slightly blushing.

"No, I think it's best to leave it for tomorrow. Too much drama for one night is bad for the health." He chuckled, getting up and brushing away the dust on him.

"Oh yeah. Um. It's best we go now, anyway. It's nearly midnight." She smiled nervously.

Hermione motioned for the door when she heard Draco say,

"Hey." She turned around to see Malfoy staring at her.

"What?" Hermione replied.

"I'm not the only one complicated, you know." He smirked at her, the moonlight making his blonde hair shine.

"I meant what I said, Granger." He started, slowly making his way towards her.

"I'm not the only one complicated around here. Much like me, caprice, I mean." He continued, now just inches away from her.

She thought about it and shrugged.

"I guess we're much more similar than we thought, _Draco_." She smirked and closed the door behind her, leaving Draco Malfoy upstairs, grinning madly for no reason at all.

"Similar, eh?" She said to herself, chuckling slightly at his previous comment.

Hermione reached the head common room in no time to see Ron and Ceri huddled together.

Her eyes shot wide when she realized,

"_CRAP I FORGOT TO RANT TO HIM!" _She smacked her forehead and sighed,

"I guess he forgot as well." She sighed.

A few moments later, Draco, with a bunch of books in his arms, came in the common room with his nose wrinkled at the sight of Ceri and Ron huddled together in a corner.

"Dr-Malfoy!" She exclaimed.

She did not realize that he came in and was completely surprised as he made an entrance behind her.

"Yes, Granger?" He replied in an unusually calm voice.

This time, Ron and Ceri were looking at them, and by the corner of Hermione's eye, she saw this.

"Our deal isn't over yet." She smirked.

"Oh yeah." He chuckled.

Malfoy noticed the evil smirk on Hermione's face as her eyes fell into the Weasel's. Somehow, he realized where Hermione was getting to and decided to play along.

"Shall we go to my room then?" He smirked evilly.

She mouthed a thank you and said, "Then we shall." She grinned at him.

They made their way to Malfoy's room with Ron and Ceri still staring at them.

Completely confused of the previous sight.

"So, what's up, Granger?" He raised a brow at her as he laid his books under his bed.

Hermione looked at the floor and said in a quiet voice, "It's Ron."

**A/N: **How was it? Review please!


	9. When Everything Goes Wrong

**Turning of the Tides**

**A/N: **To that idiot reviewer, _**'Concerned'**_, I'd like to clarify that **uncanny means eerie or strange**. I know my dictionary thank you very much—maybe _you_ should see one?

**Chapter nine: When Everything Goes Wrong**

"It's Ron." Hermione said quietly.

Draco raised his eyebrows at her and sniggered.

"You are going to waste my time ranting about that… thing?" He started to laugh.

Hermione frowned in annoyance.

"You promised."

"Alright, alright." said Malfoy exasperatedly.

She took a seat on the floor and sighed. Malfoy raised a brow at her and said, "What are you doing there?" He pointed out to her current position.

"Uh. Sitting?" She furrowed her eyebrows and shrugged.

"Yes, I know that. I'm not completely daft, you know. But might I ask you _why_ you're sitting on the floor?" He scratched the back of his neck and wrinkled his nose.

"Because I don't want to infest your stuff with muggle germs?" She replied in a mocking tone.

"Don't use that tone with me, Granger." Malfoy frowned at her. Somehow, she made it seem like he was the bad guy. Like he was his father.

"It's true anyway, isn't it, Malfoy?"

He paused sighing and said, "Granger, come on, sit here." He patted the space beside him on the bed.

She looked at him in disbelief and replied, "No, really, I'm fine, Malfoy."

"Granger, I'm being _nice_. Now sit." Hearing the sternness in his voice made her feel somewhat uneasy that she just _had_ to comply.

She sat a meter away from Malfoy.

"There, not so scary, right?" He chuckled at her.

And there it was: Hermione Granger was once again stunned by Draco Malfoy's actions. Also, she was very, very disturbed. His capriciousness was kicking in again.

Not wanting to think on it too much, she decided to leave the thought alone and let it be.

"No, not scary at all." She smiled at him, no, not a wide smile, just a small one - enough to show her thanks.

"So, are you not going to rant? If you aren't gonna start now, I might be forced to kick you out my room."

She looked at him funnily and nodded. "Well…" She started, but stopped abruptly.

"Well?" He asked her.

"Wait, have you ever _had_ a serious girlfriend?" She asked him.

Hermione wasn't so sure of how she was going to tell him her dilemma so she decided it was a good start to ask _him_ the question first.

He looked at her funnily this time and laughed. "Do you think that _I_, Draco Malfoy, had _had_ a **serious** girlfriend?" He held his stomach in laughter.

She said nothing but looked at him disappointedly.

He looked at her and stopped laughing. He bit his lip and shook his head. "No, never had one. But Blaise did, and he used to rant to me all the time when we were… when we… were still civil towards each other." He ran his fingers through his silky hair.

"Well, in that case…" She started fiddling with the hem of her skirt.

"Haven't moved on because of the Weasel, am I right?" He chuckled.

Hermione's eyes grew wide. She never expected Malfoy, of all people, to read her with such ease. Or was it just too obvious?

"H-how did you…" She stuttered.

"You're not exactly something hard to read like Ancient Runes, you know." He smirked at her as he watched Hermione shift uncomfortably in her seat.

Sighing in defeat, she curled her fists and started rambling.

"And now he's flirting with little Miss Ravenclaw over there." Hermione grimaced.

"Well, I don't see the point why not." Draco shrugged.

"She's one great shag after all." He curled his lips.

Her anger rose as he said this. She gritted her teeth and motioned for the door.

"Where are you going, Granger?" Draco snorted and also stood up.

"I don't need to bloody hear this from you." She snapped, her eyes piercing into his.

"Would you calm down? I merely stated the obvious." He said in a cocky manner.

"I needed someone to comfort me, and this is what you call comforting?" She twitched.

"I thought you wanted to _rant_? To rant and to comfort are hardly the same thing, my dear." He smiled at her.

"To let out your anger is comforting. And to rant means NO side comments coming from the other person!" She now placed her curled fists on both her sides.

She sighed and leaned against the cold, hard door. Her back slowly sliding down until her bottom had reached the floor.

Draco looked at her hard. He was puzzled yet amused at the same time. Hermione was currently juggling so many emotions at the moment resulting her into breaking down?

"What's wrong, Granger?" He finally snapped out of his self centered bubble.

"I want to move on but I can't. It's really painful to see him just flirting around like that. But here I am, pretending to the outside world that I'm fine and dandy. That I need no man in my life to make me happy…. That I merely need books by my side. But it's hard to pretend all the time!" Her voice sounded as if she was in the verge of crying.

"Did you do your best?" He ran his fingers through his hair and leaned on the door beside Hermione.

"What?" She asked, confused.

"Did you do your best in trying to move on?" He raised both his eyebrows at her.

"I…" She looked guilty.

"I take that as a no. Look, Granger, not everything is done with just simple magic. Heck, even magic needs practice. And in your case, magic is not needed at all. You merely just have to try harder."

She looked at him. It was rather unusual of Malfoy to say such sensible things. "How do you…" She stopped.

"How do I give such great advice despite my awesome looks? Ha, I'm not only the exterior type, Granger. Do you not realize that I was placed in Slytherin for a reason?"

"Prat." She smiled at him, and he smirked back.

"Now, Granger, I find it most amusing that your—um—skirts are indescribably short nowadays, but may I ask you to stand up and sit on the bed instead? It's rather awkward for me to see… such an amount of flesh coming from you." He coughed.

Now that she realized it, she was practically showing her thighs in her position.

Hermione quickly stood up and nearly lost balance during the process. Draco merely sneered.

She sat daintily on the edge on the bed and rested her palms onto her knees.

"Is that why you were desperately trying to make Weasley jealous?" He asked her.

"I wasn't jealous!" She retorted.

He looked at her. Okay, he was staring her down.

"Then again… maybe I was." She finally gave in.

"Play his game then." He smirked, his lips curled mischievously.

"What do you m-"

"Must I spell out everything for you? Or are you just acting daft?" He groaned at her, showing complete annoyance.

"Malfoy…" Hermione pursed her lips and shot daggers at him.

"Well, he seems to be taking advantage of his freedom, so why don't you?" He shrugged and made way to his bed. He let himself collapse on the bed and put his arms above his head so that way, his head would have something to rest on.

Hermione on the other hand was just beside Draco's head. She peered over to look at him and as she did so, they locked gazes.

"Sorry, but I don't _date_ people as a way to use my advantages." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Then don't think about it too much. Leave him alone and let the _right _one come to you. Is _that_ the advice you were looking for?"

"Yeah. I think… For now, that's just about the only advice I can take, Malfoy." She smiled sadly and stared into his eyes once again.

**(Draco's P.O.V.)**

"_**She's about to cry, mate." **_There goes our beloved Evan.

"Granger," I finally rose and sat beside her.

"I… I… love him s-so much and-" Her voice was shaky.

"_**Do something, Draco." **_Shut up. I don't even know what to do.

By instinct, it just happened. I took her in my arms and held her as she cried.

"_**Good boy…"**_

I could tell that she was shocked at first, but within a split second, she wrapped her arms around my torso, and started crying. Her shoulders were shaking and I could hear her sobs getting louder.

Neither of us spoke. Not that I knew what to say, exactly.

I brought my hand to the back of her head.

"_**Oh! So her hair isn't made out of broom twigs. Hahaha!"**_

_Actually, it's kind of soft and smooth._

I started stroking her hair as she cried against my really expensive cashmere shirt.

This is what people do to comfort, right?

For a long time there, we just held each other. I don't understand why I didn't let go, and I'm pretty sure that she didn't understand why _she_ didn't let go either.

But one thing's for sure. My shirt was really, really soaked.

She finally let go of me and I did the same.

"Sorry." She mumbled.

"It's fine." I smiled at her. What the… **me?** SMILING? Psh. I'm smirking.

"And thank you."

I nodded at her as a sign of approval.

"You looked like you needed it." I chuckled.

"_**When I said something about not getting a decent girl? I'm sorry about that." **_Evan's voice rang inside my head. Somehow, there was a sudden relief when I heard his voice.

"_Really?" _I asked him. Hey, despite the sincerity in his voice, who knows? He might be toying with me.

"_**Yeah. I think this is called maturity. You even came to put up with Miss Granger here. I must say that I am most impressed, Draco." **_Okay, there goes his oh so superior-sounding voice again.

"_Thanks. I think." _I smiled at Hermione. Hermione? I mean GRANGER. Damn it. Evan's messing up my words.

"Draco?" She smiled at me.

"Yeah, H-Granger?"

"We need to start planning for the ball tomorrow." She stood up from the bed.

"Yeah, we should do that." I nodded.

A moment of silence fell between us until she said,

"Well, it's about time I left. It's pretty late."

I yawned and snorted, "Yeah. Hopefully the Weasel isn't around anymore. If he is, you better take away house points from him. It's past curfew anyway."

"I can't do that!" She argued.

"Oh yes you can. Or else…" I sniggered darkly.

"Or else what?" She asked me with her hands on her hips.

"Or else **I'll** take points away." I wiggled my eyebrows at her playfully.

"Goodnight, Draco." She smiled at me genuinely then left the room.

The intoxicating scent of cherries lingered in my room. And a few minutes after that, I fell into a deep sleep.

"_**That was a really mature thing of you to do, Draco."**_

**(Normal P.O.V.)**

Subconsciously, as Draco was sleeping, he smiled as Evan said this. It was somehow comforting to have his other self talking to him once again.

Meanwhile, Hermione made her way down the stairs and to her room. Ron was gone, and so were Harry and Dean. The only person left in the common room was Ceri Blackheart.

Her eye twitched slightly and huffed as she walked towards her door.

"Hermione." Ceri smiled at her, but Hermione wasn't looking.

"Hey." Hermione replied briefly.

Just as she was about to turn the knob, Ceri started speaking once again.

"What were you doing in Draco's room?"

Hermione turned around and rolled her eyes at her discreetly.

"It's none of your business, really." Hermione shrugged.

"Did you do something?" Ceri smirked at her.

"What I do is none of your business, Miss Blackheart." Hermione smirked back in a very Slytherin manner.

"Oh so you did." Ceri's smirk turned into a malicious grin.

"What if we did? What is it to you?" Hermione sighed in utter annoyance.

"Look here, _Mudblood, _Draco's **mine**. Not yours, not Pansy's but **mine**." Ceri said snidely.

"I have no interest in him, you tart. What happened to Ron? Aren't you getting chummy?" Hermione's nostrils flared as she heard Ceri call her a mudblood.

"I can have both, can I?" Ceri started to walk towards her in a cat like way.

"One stupid enough will say that." Hermione curled her lips.

"Say what you want. But you'll never have either of them." Ceri shrugged.

"It's not like _you _ever will." Hermione snapped.

"What do you mean by that?" Ceri flipped her hair and cocked her hip to the side.

"You merely another whore to him. A useless piece of accessory that is worn when felt like it. But aside from that, you're nothing else but a—a whore. And Ron's just merely… blind as of the moment." Hermione need not hear what Ceri had to say. She turned around and left for her room.

Hermione inhaled deeply as she entered her room, leaning against the hard door behind her. Her chest heaving lightly as she recalled the past event in Malfoy's room.

_It was all too wrong… nothing was going right._

_**I never could have seen this far…**_

_She needed Ron to be here, to embrace her._

_**I never could have seen this coming…**_

_To make her feel safe…_

_**It seems like my world's falling apart.**_

_For someone to tell her that everything is going to be alright…_

_**Yeah… Why is everything so hard?**_

_It's unfair. Why was it so easy for him to move on?_

_**I don't think I can deal with the things you said**_

_Did she never matter to him at all?_

_**It just won't go away…**_

_Did she love him too much that she was unprepared of letting go?_

_**In a perfect world… This could never happen…**_

_Why was everything so hard?_

_**In a perfect world… You'd still be here…**_

_What did Ron see in Ceri that Hermione didn't have? Why must he be so daft to not see the real person inside that witch?_

_**And it makes no sense… I could just pick up the pieces…**_

She could feel a lump on her throat, and the tears just prickling their way out.

_Right now, what she needed the most was the warmth that Malfoy gave her tonight._

_**But to you…**_

_But no one was there to be for her…_

_**This means nothing… Nothing at all…**_

_She was alone…_

Her back slid down the door letting her fall to the floor as she sobbed. She wrapped her arms around her knees and buried her face on the exposed flesh.

_Where was her strength when she needed it the most?_

_**I used to think that I was strong…**_

_Was she pretending all this time?_

_**Until the day it all went wrong…**_

_Thinking that she was strong but she wasn't? Has it always been like that?_

_**I think I need a miracle to make it through…**_

_Was she lying to herself and everyone else all along?_

_**Yeah…**_

_Was it a mask that covered her face all along?_

_**I wish that I could bring you back…**_

_**I wish that I could turn back time…**_

She dug her nails onto the flesh of her knees as she cried harder.

**(Hermione's P.O.V.)**

_**Cause I can't let go**_

_I hate the way my life goes…_

_**I just can't find my way**_

_The way it flows without my consent._

_**Yeah…**_

_The way it just messes everything up…_

_**Without you I just can't find my way**_

_The way it confuses me…_

_I hate it. I hate that I can't have Ron, the way that Malfoy confuses me, the fact that I'm growing apart from Harry…_

**(Normal P.O.V.)**

Hermione looked up and leaned her head against the door behind her. She bit her lip and closed her eyes, inhaling the scent of cedar. It was all too much for her this time.

Now somber, Hermione made her way to her bed, not bothering to change into her bedtime clothes. She merely lay there, trying to clear her head from everything.

Then suddenly, a muggle song started playing inside her head…

And the lyrics made perfect sense to her.

_**In a perfect world…**_

_**This could never happen…**_

_**In a perfect world…**_

_**You'd still be here…**_

_**And it makes no sense…**_

_**I could just pick up the pieces…**_

_**But to you…**_

_**This means nothing…**_

_**Nothing at all…**_

**A/N: **I'm very very very very very sorry for the late updates! I had exams and was studying day and night.

Will be updating tomorrow ASAP! Thanks!


	10. Definition of the Word Cute

**Turning of the Tides**

**A/N**: Back with another one, thank you all for your lovely reviews!

**Chapter ten: Definition of the word, "Cute"**

Hermione was surprised to have slept throughout the night—given the _problems_ she had.

She woke up that morning and late, at that fact. Practically falling off the bed as she scrambled, she muttered a quick tempus. She muttered it too quick that she nearly said, "_Hemps_"

"_Tempus."_ She muttered. It was 7:30. Not only had she missed transfigurations _again _but she's about to be late for potions!

"F—k." She cursed as she fumbled through the room for her clothes and belongings.

"GOOD!" She sighed in relief as she finally gathered her things and changed her clothes.

Soon after scrambling all over the room, Hermione quickly made her way to the common room to check for any other students.

"Surprise, surprise…" A proverbial voice said in a mocking tone.

"Blackheart." Hermione said scathingly.

"Granger." Ceri raised a brow.

Hermione tried desperately to pass through her but Ceri's slender arms blocked her way.

"What do you want?!" Hermione snapped.

"Why the sudden change in schedules, Granger? Draco was waiting for you. Seems like you had a little 'date' arranged today? Luckily I was there to play with him." Ceri smirked.

Hermione paused for a while and her eyes widened. She had completely forgotten about her arrangement with Draco! But they weren't supposed to have the meeting so early in the morning… right?

Hermione groaned and said, "I'm late. Excuse me."

"Slept in because of your pitiful crying, Granger?" Ceri went on.

"I never said anything about crying. Now if you will excuse me." Hermione tried to stay away from the topic.

"I heard your whimpers, Mudblood. Stop lying."

"I am not. Please get out of the way or I'll be rash." Hermione spat.

"Really? What can _you_ do?" She continued the taunt.

Hermione's temper was something that shouldn't be tested with. Oh yes, she can be rash. Very rash, for that matter.

_Especially with a wand._

Hermione pulled out her wand swiftly from her hidden pocket and pointed it directly at Ceri's cheek.

"Or I'll make that pretty face of yours something to be disgusted at." Hermione hissed.

Suddenly, Malfoy came in the common room with his hands inside his pockets and was smirking.

"Hmm… What's going on here, ladies?"

"Oh Draco, help me. She said she was going to kill me." Ceri moaned.

"I said **nothing** about killing you. You're not even worth going to Azkaban for. Hermione gasped in shock.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa… Granger, Put the wand down, _please_. Some people may get hurt. And we won't want that, would we?" He smirked at Ceri.

"And to think she's Head Girl…"

"Ugh. I have no time for this. I'm late for class." Hermione retrieved her wand and stuffed it inside her concealed pocket.

Malfoy followed her outside the common room, leaving Ceri completely alone. Of course, Hermione didn't notice that he was following her.

"Granger." He was now behind her.

"Malfoy!" She spun around, looking completely shocked.

"I'm not a ghost. Don't look so scared." He huffed.

She quickly composed herself and cleared her throat.

"Malfoy."

"What brings you… behind me?" She furrowed her eyebrows.

"Well, I wanted…"

"_**You wanted to know how she's feeling? That's so nice of you, Draco."**_

"_I'm not nice. I'm merely… being civil. It's part of our deal, after all."_

"I wanted to know where you were this morning. I do recall a meeting… but it seems that you've decided to ditch me." He changed his sentence.

"_**I thought you wanted to know how she was doing?"**_

"_Bloody leave me and my actions alone."_

"_**You've seriously got some damage to work with."**_

"And… Iwantedtoknowhowyouweredoing." Draco said in one breathing.

"What?" She cocked her head to the side in confusion.

"I wanted to know how you were doing." He said slowly.

"Oh… I'm fine, thank you for asking." She smiled at him.

"And I'm sorry about the meeting. I slept in." She blushed ferociously at the fact that she was late for the excuse of sleeping in.

He chuckled and replied, "Sleeping in? Doesn't sound like a Granger to me."

"Yeah well, I'm merely human. Not some superhuman." She smiled heartily.

Draco was stunned by her statement.

_I'm merely human, not some superhuman._

He grinned at her with gusto and chuckled even more.

"What's so funny?"

"You." He laughed.

"Me? What's so funny about me?" She scowled.

"You just said it. That you're merely human. It's unlikely for you to say such an avowal."

"Really now. Do tell." She smirked, now her hip cocked to the side.

"It's weird. I don't know why but it feels like we're acting strangely or saying such odd things at that." He shrugged.

She raised her eyebrows and pondered on this for a moment, but let it go within a split second.

"Well, I'd love to chat about my humanisms, but I must be going. I'm about to be late for potions." She nodded curtly.

"Potions? But it's a Saturday." He scratched the back of his neck.

"Fuck!" She cursed loudly.

"Language, Granger." He smirked.

"Agh! So _that's _why Blackheart wasn't in class. It's a SATURDAY!" She smacked her head with her palm hard, and groaned.

"Acting human doesn't suit you, please stop it."

"It was a harmless mistake." She shrugged and leaned lazily on the wall.

"Shall we head back to the common room and discuss our future plans there?" He straightened up.

_Future plans? _She thought.

"I mean the plans for the Ball." He added.

"Oh of course." She chuckled nervously and made a beeline to the common room.

Both of them arrived in the common room and thankfully, Ceri was nowhere in sight.

They took a seat at opposite sides of the couch.

"How about using muggle songs for a change?" She asked him cautiously.

"Not a bad idea." He shrugged.

"Really? But I thought you hated muggles." She said in aghast.

"I said I hated _muggles_, not their music." He frowned.

"Oh yes. Well, any suggestions?" She started.

"It would be good for a masquerade." For once, Draco Malfoy has said something that Hermione Granger actually agrees completely on.

"That's a brilliant idea!" She chirped.

"Yes, and we can have those muggle fireworks as the ending event for the night." Draco pondered for more ideas.

"Yes, and we can have an old English theme for the ball." Hermione was getting actually getting excited.

"That would do well, and we can also decorate the whole place with Gold and Silver. These stand as our House colors." She added.

He took out his wand and started swishing into thin air.

She looked at him and tilted her head to the right.

He noticed Hermione staring and said, "We have to jot down notes, now do we?"

She slapped herself mentally and said, "Oh yes, I forgot."

She accio'd her quills and parchments then started scribbling. Draco stared at her funnily and wondered: _Why didn't she just use her wand for convenience?_

She looked at Malfoy and caught him staring then she chuckled. "Not all things are to be done through convenience."

Draco did not want this topic to go any further so he left it at that and started thinking of new ideas to go through with this Yule ball.

"I'm out of ideas." Hermione sighed in exasperation.

"Me too." Draco groaned after a few hours of non stop scribbling.

"Where's everyone? I didn't see Dean or Fa. I only saw Blackheart."

"Probably at hogsmeade." Draco shrugged.

Hermione nodded and stood silent for a while. She recalled the events last night and frowned as she pictured herself in her room crying her heart out. But then the image of Draco embracing her like she was no mudblood came in and a wide smile came across her face.

She knew she had to thank him somehow, and a simple thank you wouldn't do.

The smile to herself faced Draco and he was taken aback by her sudden change in expression.

"What's up?" He asked her.

"Do you…" She started but stopped in the middle of her sentence.

_What if he declines and says something awful?_

"Do I?" He repeated.

"Um." She blushed and asked,

"WouldyouliketogotoHogsmeade? ImeanasameregestureofgratitudeIthoughtitwouldbebestifIrepaidyouproperlyalthoughitwouldbeunderstandableifyousaynoandIwouldn'tfeelbadifyousaidso." She panted hard as she finished her sentence.

**Believe it or not, she said this in one breathing.**

Draco chuckled at her purple face as she tried desperately to retrieve the loss of breath.

"Are you asking me out?" He laughed.

"NO! Not OUT, out. Just you know a bite to eat as a thank you for last night. I'm obstinate to let such a thing pass, you see. So it's a _must_ for me to repay you through any way possible." She said matter-of-factly.

He stared at her for a moment but she said,

"Oh I'm sorry, you must be afraid of what the others would think so it's fine." She smiled.

"Me? Afraid? They wouldn't lay a finger into my business. Have you forgotten that I _am_ **the** Draco Malfoy?" He smirked.

"I take that as an approval then." She nodded and grinned at him cheekily.

"Oh. And this is a lunch between two colleagues, alright? Nothing more." She said with a smirk.

"So don't get any ideas." She added.

"Me? Getting ideas with you? Please, Granger, don't flatter me with such ignorance." He grinned impishly.

"Right then, I'll be changing." Hermione trotted away to her room.

**(Draco's P.O.V.)**

"_**Damn that Granger has a nice arse." **_Evan's voice rang.

"_What the bloody hell? You should really meet the other ladies I know. __**Then**__ you'll see nice bums." _Okay, okay. So she does, but please, I didn't need to know that!

"_**You do know that these 'friends' of yours use bum lifting charms to make themselves good, right?" **_Bum lifting? Blimey, I wonder if Pansy uses bum lifting charms? AHAHAH! This is just priceless. Maybe I could use it on Potter's bum and over do it. I wonder what'll happen…

"_You're not too sure about that, are you? And what if Granger uses that ghastly charm as well?" _Serves you right. You're not even bloody sure what you're talking about.

"_**I'm pretty sure that she doesn't, Draco. Besides, didn't you notice the bad sex you've been encountering lately?" **_Hey, I know about that. Stop rubbing that in.

"_Yeah." _There, nice and simple.

"_**That means you've subconsciously got your mind on something else. Perhaps someone you want to shag…"**_ And who might that be?

"_**And it so happens that I am fully aware of how your subconscious mind works." **_Really? Good for you.

"_**This also means that I hear everything you're thinking about. Even that last statement." **_Crap.

"_**Yes, utter crap indeed."**___Bloody Evan, leave my thoughts alone!

"_**I can't. Sorry." **_And now you're laughing?

"_**Yes, I am." **_ARGH!

"_**Wouldn't you like to know who that lucky girl you or rather I want to shag?" **_Who, who, who?

"I'm ready!" Granger suddenly appeared before me. She wore a black and red striped shirt and black trousers. In her hand was a black jumper and her boots were obviously for the snow.

"_**Her." **_WHAT THE FUCK!?

"_Evan?! EVAN?! TALK TO ME BLOODY HELL!" _Crap. Utter crap.

"Not even gonna bring a coat?" She asked me.

I started staring at her from head to toe. Who knew _she_ of all people can dress?

"Oh. Um. Accio coat." I called out and there it was, my expensive coat flying towards me.

"Off we go then!" She smiled cheerily.

"Damn, Granger, for a person who just cried over her ex-boyfriend last night, you seem to be rather merry." I raised my eyebrows at her.

"Yeah well, it'd be a shame to ruin the mood, right?" She shrugged.

"_**Ask her if she wears lip gloss or lip stick." **_Evan said briskly.

What the hell!? I'd sound bloody gay!

"_**Just do it."**_

"Do you wear lip gloss or lip stick?" I finally acquiesced.

"None. I don't really like make up." Now she's looking at me as if she wants to say, 'are-you-gay?'

"Why?" She asked.

"Just asking." I shrugged.

Way to play it cool, Malfoy.

"Shall we go then?" I changed subjects.

"Oh yeah, we better do." She smiled. Her lips so pink and full.

She led the way, and soon we found ourselves at the gate of Hogwarts where the carriages were.

"To Hogsmeade please." Herm-Granger had spoken.

"_**There you go again." **_Shut up.

We reached Hogsmeade in complete silence. Neither one of us dared utter a word.

"Three broomsticks?" I suggested and she easily complied.

We entered the shack to see dozens of Hogwarts students packing the place. And a lot of eyes were staring into us. Naturally, _I_ wouldn't mind. But Granger—well, let us just say that she was frightened to the bones.

"Keep your cool. Tell them that we're here for our planning." I whispered to her.

Suddenly, a ghastly looking old lady asked us where we wanted to sit. As you would expect, neither of us wanted to be near the Hogwarts students nor did we want to be alone. So in the end, we sat at the far left corner of the room.

We still felt a lot of eyes staring at us and Granger wasn't getting any better so I started a casual conversation.

"So how are things with Zabini?" Not that I liked the topic, but I had to muster something that she would be comfortable talking about.

"Um, it's fine. Why ask?" She replied.

"Just wondering." I rolled my eyes.

I didn't really want this conversation to go any further, so I quickly changed the topic to the Ball topic. There. Something both of us would be comfortable with.

"So, have you gotten a date for the ball?"

"Um. No, I plan to not go with one." Why so bashful? Hahah! Is it the fact that no one would take you?

"And you?" She asked me.

"I'd take anyone, really." I chuckled.

"Pansy most probably." I merely shrugged, not caring who I would choose among the many die hard girls who would kill just to get my attention. Nonetheless, we cannot help that, right? I _am_ Draco Malfoy after all.

"I see." She smiled.

Once again, the ghastly looking fat lady showed up before us, asking for our orders.

"What would yeh like fer today, young couple." Couple?! BLOODY WOMAN YOU ARE BLIND!

"Sorry, we're classmates, not a couple." I said courteously.

"Oh. Sorry, dear. It did seem like you are." The lady apologized.

"But-" I tried to argue but Granger cut in saying,

"We'll have two butterbeers and put extra butter on mine please." Okay, stop it with the glare, Granger.

I rolled my eyes once again and huffed. Immediately, the lady left to probably get our orders.

Granger was fidgeting a lot, and this was displeasing to my eyes.

"Stop that." I ordered.

"Don't tell me what to do. I'll fidget whenever I want to." What the?! Why does she keep on being so quarrelsome?! It's so annoying!

"_**Which is why I like her even hotter." **_SHUT UP!

"No retaliation? How un Malfoy-like."

"Shut up. I'm talking to…" Bloody Merlin…

"Talking to whom?"

"Myself." I find myself utterly mad now.

Her-Granger just stared at me. Right, the look that I was just looking for. The you-are-completely-out-of-your-wits look.

"I find that cut-I mean… um. Cuuuuuuuriously annoying." Cute? Was she about to say cute?

"I knew it. You like me." THERE! My ego is growing once again.

"LIKE YOU!?" She stood up from her chair and was pushed back, making loud screechy noises against the floor.

"Keep it down." I said for there were many eyes that were looking at us.

She pulled her chair back once again, and sat down furiously.

"Like you?! Who would like you?!" She whispered angrily.

"I was kidding. Ever heard of a 'joke' ?" She should seriously get a massage to lessen that tense in her.

"_**I'd love to do it for her." **_WOULD YOU SHUT UP?!

"_**Neverrr…" **_Right. Snicker all you want. Psh. Is this the curse of Draco Malfoy?

"Ugh." Granger pouted and started to gaze out the window.

**(Normal P.O.V.)**

Hermione looked out the window and saw Blaise by the door accompanied by a blonde haired girl. Blaise looked around and suddenly met eyes with Hermione, and after a few split seconds, his eyes landed on Draco and his eyebrows rose.

He made his way with the blonde beside him towards the direction of Hermione. He had a grin plastered onto his face.

As they reached their table, Blaise said, "Fancy meeting you here."

"Blaise, what a surprise!" Hermione grinned.

"Zabini." Draco glared.

"Malfoy." Blaise returned the glare.

Not wanting to heat up the tension, Hermione started, "So who is this pretty lady? A new girl, perhaps?" She said this with a grin.

"Oh no, this is Titania Syliannas a student from Beauxbatons. She's visiting here on a field trip." Blaise introduced Titania, and she smiled at both Draco and Hermione.

"Titania, this is Hermione Granger, the troubled girl I have been mentioning to you about, and Draco Malfoy." Blaise said casually with a hint of bitterness as he mentioned Draco's name.

"Hello, Titania." Hermione shook her hand gracefully.

"Draco Malfoy." Draco introduced himself and merely smiled at her.

"Draco Malfoy? Son of… Lucius Malfoy?" Titania spoke, her French accent flowing.

"Yes, indeed." He nodded his head curtly.

"Our fathers are good friends, did you know?" Titania spoke in interest.

Hermione and Blaise merely smiled.

"Indeed I do. Actually, your father has been over a few times lately." He said nonchalantly.

"It has been great meeting you, Mister Malfoy." She smiled.

"Call me Draco." He winked at her. Blaise now felt uneasy.

Titania blushed and said abruptly, "Well, we must be going. We were merely going to get our butterbeers to go and go around."

With that, they bade goodbye. Of course, Blaise and Draco merely glared at each other.

"You need not flirt with her, you know." Hermione teased.

"It's my nature. It comes naturally." Draco smirked.

The grisly lady from a while ago came in again and gave their orders.

"Two butterbeers for the couple and extra butter for the lady. That is all? That will be three galleons." The lady grinned toothily, the gap between her incisors visible.

"Here." Draco had paid.

"No, no, please let me." Hermione insisted.

"It's fine, here." Draco signaled for the lady to take the money and go away.

"HEY! I said **I** would pay!" Hermione whined.

Draco rolled his eyes at her and acted as if he did not mind her at all.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Hermione pursed her lips in anger and crossed her arms across her chest.

Draco looked at her then smiled. "Happy?" He teased.

"HMPF!" She stuck her nose in the air then a few seconds after that; she stuck her tongue out like a child.

"_**You're cute when you act like that."**_ Evan's voice had once again taken over his peaceful mind.

"You're cure when you act like that." Draco said unconsciously.

"Sorry?" She was taken back. Did he just call _her_ cute?

"No, no. I meant. Cute, I meant, small and ugly. You know! The other meaning of cute." He managed to think of an excuse. What was Evan thinking making him say that?!

"HEY! I AM NOT SMALL! NOR UGLY!" She growled.

"Well face it, because _that_ is the definition of the word, "cute", by Draco Malfoy." He snickered.

**Author's note: Quite sorry for the delay! Graduation is coming. xD**


End file.
